


The Wizard of West Wing

by sekinsey68



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-27
Updated: 2008-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 06:08:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 62,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15455031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sekinsey68/pseuds/sekinsey68
Summary: Donna takes a revealing little trip into her own head. A VERY twisted and fractured version of the Wizard of Oz meets The West Wing (my apologies to L. Frank Baum).





	1. The Wizard of West Wing: Chapters 1-5

Title: The Wizard of West Wing  
Author: Suzy K  
Rating: YTEEN (PG) mostly but there will be some ADULT smut at the end  
Category: Fluffy/Comedic fun, a tiny bit of angst and some romance at the end  
(A fractured variation of The Wizard of Oz, well, sort of, but please don’t let that discourage you from reading I hope it’s not as bad as that description sounds)

Summary: Donna takes a revealing little trip into her own head. 

Disclaimers: The West Wing and its characters don't belong to me, never will. Aaron Sorkin, Warner Bros, NBC and Co. thought of them first. I just like to play with them and see what happens. I do this out of a love for the show and no infringement is intended. The Wizard of Oz belongs the amazingly talented L. Frank Baum.

Note: This story is a bit different than I've done before. In fact, I think this is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever written. While the first chapter is a bit angsty, the bulk of the story could best be called satire or maybe satirical fluff or maybe even a parody. Hopefully I’ve managed to bring the funny (at least a little bit). Mostly this is just a piece of gooey fluff that I'd like to have done for Halloween (although the story is set around the 4th of July), hopefully more a “treat” than a “trick.” Although it takes a while to show up, I swear there is some juicy Josh/Donna at the end. Please note although there are some elements from the Wizard of Oz, I’ve tried to make this story unique. There will be NO singing or fancy production numbers in this fic. It takes place during Commencement (Season 4).

A couple of things you have to know...in this fic, Josh and Charlie still go after the bottle of champagne, but Zoey does NOT get kidnapped, which means the President never steps down and there is no icky Josh/Amy kiss in Josh’s office (not that Amy still isn't up to no good where Josh is concerned). Amy is just working as Mrs. Bartlet’s COS and Josh hasn’t lost his mind. They are, however, still trying to find a VP to replace Hoynes.

And now...on with the craziness.

**********  
Chapter 1

“Are you in love with Josh?” Amy asked, casually.

And there it was. The big pink elephant that had been sitting in the corner of Donna’s relationship with Josh almost since the day they’d met.

Donna laughed a little as she snapped the book closed and dropped it on the desk. “No, of course not, I mean I love him like...you know a friend, but...”

Her expression sly, Amy rose and walked over to her. “Are you sure? ‘Cause I keep getting this vibe from you.”

“Really?” Donna said innocently as she rifled through some files. “Huh, I don’t know why.”

Amy was giving her a long, assessing look. Carefully, she put her beer down on the corner of Donna’s desk. “Deny it all you want, Donna, but I’m not blind.”

“No, of course not,” she insisted, sticking to her story. “I just think that you’re confusing love with the close friendship I have with Josh.”

“I want him back, Donna,” Amy said suddenly.

It took Donna by surprise and her head snapped up. “What?”

“I want him back,” she repeated. “Seeing him again, working with him nearly every day, I realize that I never should have let him get away and now that we're on the same side, I won’t have any trouble keeping him.” She paused. “I plan to do everything I can to get him back.”

Stomach churning and heart pounding Donna forced her expression to remain bland as she straightened. Now it was her turn to assess Amy with narrowed eyes. Suddenly she understood. 

“That’s what this whole day has been about, hasn’t it?” she said. “The whole ‘share my car’ and ‘I love what you’re wearing.’ I thought you were just sucking up to me to get to Josh, but you’ve been sizing up the competition.”

“Just because you’re in love with him doesn’t mean you’re competition,” Amy replied coolly. 

Donna wasn’t a violent person, but right at that moment, she had a powerful urge to claw Amy’s eyes out. “Amy, you very well might get him in your bed, but you’ll never GET him,” she said with equal coolness.

Amy laughed...or maybe it was more of cackle. “That may be, but no matter how much you GET him...if you can’t even get up the guts to tell him how you feel...I doubt you’re going to be GETTING him in YOUR bed any time soon.”

Shame flooded through Donna, all but dousing her anger. She didn’t have much of an answer to that. 

“I’ve got things to do, Amy,” Donna told her as she sat down at her desk and opened a file. “Since you got what you came for, why don’t you go back to your office and leave me alone?”

“I’m going after him, Donna,” she reiterated. “So you better not get in my way. Because when I play, I play to win.”

“Thanks for the tip,” she said not looking up from the file.

Casually Amy picked up her sweater and tossed it over her shoulder. “Thanks for your help with the Wellingtons,” she called as she sauntered out of the bullpen.

When Donna was sure she was gone, she propped her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands. ‘Why do I let Amy get to me?’ she wondered, blinking back tears. ‘And why can’t I do what she said? Why can’t I tell Josh how I feel?’

There were a million reasons why. Scandal, problems for Josh...but most of all it was Donna’s fear that his feelings for her didn’t go beyond their friendship. If she told him that her feelings went deeper than friendship and he didn’t feel the same, it could very well cost her that friendship.

Taking a deep breath, Donna resolutely went back to looking at the files on her desk. Ten minutes later, when she’d read the same page for the 20th time without understanding it, she decided she’d take a little walk to clear her head. 

Maybe she just needed to talk to someone who didn’t see her as an adversary. They wouldn’t even have to talk about Amy, or her and Josh. Like wanting a mint to wipe out the taste of the onions you had for lunch, maybe Donna just needed a nice, normal, chat with someone to clear the remnants of her conversation with Amy out of her head.

Letting out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding, Donna stood. She couldn’t talk to Josh, even if he had been back from his night of drinking and debauchery, she wasn’t exactly up to facing him right then. 

The next logical person was CJ, so Donna headed toward her office. Her hopes for a chat with the Press Secretary were dashed when she saw CJ and Danny Concannon coming out of CJ’s office. They were arguing as they headed off toward the Press Room.

Then Donna remembered that Toby should have been back by then. Maybe he’d tell her how things with Andi and the house had gone. Those hopes were dashed too when she got over to the Communication bullpen and found both Toby and Will’s offices empty.

Walking back from Toby’s office, she ran into Ed and Larry. “Hey, Donna, is Josh around?”

“Nope, Sam’s in town for the 4th of July so after Josh and Charlie got back from the arboretum, Josh was going to take Sam out for a drink,” she told them.

“You’ve got bail money, ready, right?” Ed asked with a smirk.

Donna grinned. “Yeah, it’s standard procedure when the two of them go out drinking.”

“Well, when you see Josh, tell him we wanted to talk to him about the research he asked for,” Larry added.

“Okay, I will,” she replied as the two men turned and walked back toward Communications.

Once again, Donna found herself alone. The little exchange with Ed and Larry had offered only a momentary reprieve. With a sigh, she resigned herself to the fact that she just wasn’t going to get to talk to anyone. Not to the degree she wanted to, anyway. Somehow they’d all managed to find themselves a life. Maybe it was time she joined them, even if it was just with a hot bath and glass of wine.

Feeling like she had a plan, she started for the operations bullpen to get her things when she remembered the file she needed from downstairs. Moving quickly so she could get it over with and take off for home before Josh got back, she went down into the depths of the building to the file room. 

After flipping the light on, she made her way to the back and stood there for a moment in front of one of the large metal shelving units, scanning the neat rows of boxes. Of course, the one she needed was on the top shelf, just out of her reach.

Not wanting to search for a step stool or ladder, Donna tugged experimentally on the shelves. They felt pretty solid and she remembered someone telling her that they were bolted to the wall. Although she knew it probably wasn’t the best idea, she was tired and in a hurry, so she stepped up onto the first shelf and reached for the box.

While she was right about the shelves being bolted to the wall, her added weight and the fact that the bolts had been incorrectly screwed into the plaster, meant that the shelves were not nearly as stable as they looked. When she grabbed the box and pulled it out, her weight shifted the shelves and the bolts slid out of the wall.

Hearing the shelves creaking ominously, Donna dropped the box and jumped down. By then, however, it was too late, the shelving unit and all the boxes it was holding tipped forward and started to fall. It was so quick, she didn’t even have time to call out before one of the metal shelves slammed into her forehead and everything went black.

**********  
Chapter 2

Sometime later, Donna felt herself begin to surface from the blackness. She felt like she was being suffocated under a heavy blanket and instinctively pushed at it. The weight seemed to roll off of her and, rubbing her forehead, she sat up and opened her eyes.

‘What the hell?’ she wondered as she looked around.

She was sitting in what looked like the well in the middle of the chamber for the House of Representatives and she was surrounded by a jumbled sea of file boxes. How had she and the boxes gotten there? The last thing she remembered was being at the White House and going downstairs for a file.

Just then she heard curious whispering and scanned the room to see where it was coming from. She quickly realized that the chamber wasn’t empty, as she’d thought. Everyone was just hiding behind their seats.

“Um...excuse me?” she tried. He words instantly silenced the whispering. No one seemed to want to acknowledge her presence.

Kicking away the last of the boxes, Donna stood up and dusted herself off. “I’m sorry to bother you, but could someone help me?” Another long silence.

She was about to try again when there was an enormous crack and a flash. 

“Don’t worry, everyone I’m here,” someone said authoritatively.

Donna turned to find CJ standing behind her. At least she thought it was CJ. She was wearing what could best be described as a voluminous blue gown and her hair was in ringlets, held back by a delicate tiara. In her hand she held a slim silver wand.

“CJ, is that you?” Donna asked.

“Well, of course, it’s me. Who were you expecting...Glinda the Good Witch of the North?” she said with a grin.

Still confused, Donna stared at her for a minute. “Well, I don’t know...in that dress...”

CJ looked down at her dress. “Yeah, not quite my usual designer threads. I like the color, but it makes me feel a little like the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio,” CJ told her. “And you wouldn’t believe what I had to do to get into it. The wardrobe guy made me wear a corset...A CORSET! Sexist pig!” she grumbled. “The stupid instrument of male oppression makes it hard to breathe.” She managed to take a little breath and put her hand on her waist. “Still...I can see why women used to wear them, it makes my waist look amazing.” She paused, then grinned. 

“Oh, but the best part of the outfit is the shoes.” Grabbing the front of her dress she lifted it a little and stuck out her foot. It was wrapped in a delicate silver high heeled sandal. “They’re Manolo Blahniks,” she whispered conspiratorially. “When the wardrobe guy first showed them to me, I was going to beat him over the head with them. I mean I love a beautiful pair of shoes as much as the next person, but how the hell am I supposed to walk more than a few steps in these? But then he pointed out that I’ve got a wand so I don’t need to walk.” 

“Um...CJ...?”

“Yes, Donna, my darling?” she said settling her dress back into place.

“Not to, you know, cut the fashion lesson short but...what are you doing here?” 

“I’m here because Congress didn’t know who you were. Plus they thought they might need me for some spin control for that.” She pointed at something on the floor next to Donna.

She looked down to see a pair of feet sticking out from under the pile of file boxes she'd crawled out from under. Quickly pushing aside a couple of boxes, Donna gasped when she saw who the feet belonged to.

“Mandy?! What’s Mandy doing here?” Donna asked. “CJ, don’t you dare tell me she’s a Congresswoman.”

“Oh, she’s not a Congresswoman, God no. I swear I would have moved to Canada if that had happened. She was working as a PR consultant for one of the Congressmen. And a Republican no less...” CJ lowered her voice and gave Donna a conspiratorial grin. “They called her the Wicked Witch of the Hill...not to her face of course.” CJ snorted. "After all, they didn't have a death wish."

Donna looked down at Mandy with concern. She looked awfully still and pale. “Is she okay?”

CJ sighed. “Nope, she’s dead.”

"Oh my, God! She'd dead? Are you sure?!" Donna exclaimed. The idea that she could have caused anyone's death, even accidentally, made her feel terrible.

CJ picked up Mandy's hand and let it drop again. "Yep, dead as a door nail."

Suddenly, Danny Concannon popped up from behind a chair. “According to my sources, you killed her when you dropped the boxes on top of her.”

Donna frowned. “What? I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”

“I’m smelling a story here,” Danny said. Pulling out his notebook and a pencil, he moved toward Donna. “Let me just get the facts and...” 

CJ held up her wand. “Back off, Danny or I’ll let you have it.” Danny took a couple of steps back, making CJ grin.

“Hey, I should have gotten one of these wands a long time ago,” she commented. “It would have kept my press room a lot more orderly.”

Donna now knew first-hand how Alice had felt after she’d fallen down the rabbit hole. Everything was so surreal. “CJ...how did I get here?” 

“Why are you asking me?”

Donna frowned. “Don’t you know?”

“Nope, we’re in your head, not mine. I just work here,” CJ told her. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Donna considered that. “Well, I was in the basement of the White House looking for a file.”

“And...?” CJ prompted.

“No ‘and’...” Donna replied with a shrug. “That’s it.”

“Well, maybe you fell down or something,” CJ suggested.

“You think?” Donna replied feeling disoriented. Why couldn't she remember?

She had to admit that the idea of falling down made a certain amount of sense. If she’d fallen down, maybe that's what was causing her to have this...hallucination was all she could think to call it. 

CJ glanced around the chamber and the still-cowering Congressmen. ”It’s okay, idiots!” she told them in annoyance. “You can come out now. Does she look remotely like the dark-haired witch? She’s not going to hurt you, so come out and stop acting like jackasses!” She turned back to Donna and rolled her eyes.

Members of Congress began to emerge from behind their seats. When they saw Donna, they started clapping.

“Why the hell are they applauding?” she asked CJ.

“Because they’re happy you did away with Mandy. She was a witch and wouldn’t stop screeching at them. Now they can go back to legislating,” CJ explained as the applause died off and everyone sat down to watch CJ and Donna with avid interest. 

“Oh, and here’s the best part...” CJ said as she pulled out a small silver book entitled ‘Good Witches Handbook’ and flipped through a couple pages. “Yep, it’s right here...it says that since you’re good and you killed her, you get her stuff.”

“Who made that rule?” Donna asked.

“I don’t have a clue,” CJ shrugged. “Again, this is happening in YOUR head, not mine. I’m just along for the ride. All I know is that it’s in the handbook.”

“I just mean..." Donna began. "...I don’t think I would be Mandy’s first choice for someone to inherit her stuff.”

CJ shrugs. “Too bad. Law of the jungle.” 

Looking down at Mandy, Donna noticed that she was wearing shiny, sparkly red shoes. “Please don’t tell me that I have to take her shoes.”

“Ugh! No! I was going to burn those,” CJ said wrinkling her nose. “You don’t really want someone else’s shoes do you? Especially ones as hideous as those?” she asked. “I mean, who would want to buy, much less wear a pair of ruby slippers? Unless you're name is Dorothy and you have a dog named Toto, they're just plain tacky. Then again, we are talking about Mandy.” CJ said with a snort as she started to wave her wand. "In any case, you get everything else."

Suddenly, screeching filled the chamber. “Wait!! Stop!!” 

The members of Congress cried in terror. “It’s the other one, it’s the Wicked Witch of the East Wing!!!” they said to each other as they dove back behind their seats.

“I HEARD THAT!” the voice roared, making the Congressmen and women even more terrified.

“Oh, Lord,” CJ muttered as she looked at Donna. ”I don’t suppose you could find something to drop on HER?” she said pointing to a set of the doors leading into the House chamber.

Just then, Amy burst into the chamber on her racing bike. Streaking down the aisle, she came to a screeching halt next to Mandy, leaving a smoking black skid mark on the carpet. Donna didn’t even know you could make skid marks on carpet.

“I get Mandy’s stuff!” Amy insisted greedily. “I’m her successor, so I should get her things!”

“Says who?” CJ challenged.

“Says me! I’m already mean, brunette, bossy and my name ends in a 'y.' I get EVERYTHING!” Her face took on a rapturous look as she gave Mandy a once over. “Oh, those shoes are gorgeous and I think they’re just my size.”

“She really wants her shoes?” Donna whispered to CJ in disbelief.

CJ leaned over to Donna and whispered, “Have you ever seen her feet? They’re filthy. Anyone with feet that dirty wouldn’t quibble about wearing someone else’s shoes.” CJ turned back to Amy. “Fine, if it will make you shut the hell up, take the damn shoes.”

“I also get the necklace and Josh,” Amy proclaimed smugly as she climbed off her bike. 

This time Donna jumped in before CJ had a chance. “You don’t get Josh!”

“Oh, yes, I do,” Amy cackled. “Mandy had him and I had him and I get him again,” she replied as she started pulling the shoes off Mandy’s feet.

Donna shook her head. “No, you don’t! You have to GET Josh to get Josh,” she insisted. “And you don’t GET Josh, so you DON’T get Josh!”

“Oh, my God, I actually followed that,” CJ said. “And I think I just blew a blood vessel in my brain.”

“What business it is of yours, anyway?!” Amy demanded of Donna. “You’re just his assistant. You’re so pathetic you can’t even admit you love him!”

Donna couldn’t really argue with her, but she wasn’t backing down. “You still don’t get Josh!”

CJ flipped quickly through her Good Witches Handbook again.

Amy opened her mouth to reply to Donna’s, but CJ stopped her. “She’s right, you don’t get Josh.”

“But...” Amy tried.

“But nothing,” CJ said with a wave of her wand. “It’s done.”

Amy’s head snapped back to Mandy. “NOOOOOO!!!! CJ, you bitch!!! Give it to me!” she screamed as she saw the pendant disappear from around Mandy’s neck.

CJ grinned. “Too late. It’s now where it’s supposed to be.” She glanced at Donna. “You know this wand is damn handy.”

Donna felt something cool settle into her cleavage. She looked down and saw that a pendant had appeared around her neck. “What’s this?” she said lifting it up.

“It’s the Ruby Goldfish pendant,” CJ said. 

“The Ruby Goldfish...what?”

“Yeah, it was either that or the shoes,” CJ said with a shrug. “And I think we already covered the fact that we didn’t want you having anything to do with Mandy’s skanky shoes.” 

Amy’s gaze narrowed as she looked at the necklace now hanging around Donna’s neck. “It’s mine...GIVE IT TO ME!!!” she screeched as she stalked toward Donna.

Before anyone could react she reached out to snatch the pendant off Donna’s neck. When she touched the necklace she flew back as if shocked. “Owwwww!!! NOO!!! Give it to me...it’s mine!!!” she beseeched to Donna.

“Don’t do it, Donna,” CJ warned. “As long as you wear the pendant, she won’t be able to work her ensorcellment on Josh and she can’t hurt you.”

“It’s mine!!!” Amy said petulantly.

“You know it doesn’t work like that,” CJ laughed. “Now why don’t you scram before I let the air out of your tires.”

Amy drew herself up and glared at Donna. “This isn’t the end of this. You haven’t heard the last of me!” she screamed as she shoved the ruby slippers down her shirt and got back on her bike.

CJ sighed. “Now, if I could only wish people out of existence, then we’d REALLY be onto something. We could start with her and then move on to the White House press corps.” 

Amy peddled around them in a circle. “I’m going to get you...and Josh, too!!!” she screamed. With a trail of smoke following her, she rode up the aisle and out of the chamber.

Now that she was gone, the members of Congress began to reappear from behind their desks.

“Thank God, that’s over,” CJ sighed. “Hey, Danny?!” she called to the red-headed reporter, who’d been scribbling madly on his note pad all this time.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“You want to go back to my place?”

He frowned. “I thought you had a problem with having a thing with me.”

She grinned. “Haven’t you heard? This is Donna’s story, not mine. We can do whatever we want.”

Danny’s eyes glittered. “Really?!” 

CJ grinned back. “Would I joke about this?”

“Well, I don’t know. One minute you’re grabbing and kissing me and then the next you’re telling me to get out,” Danny pointed out.

“That was there, this is here,” CJ answered.

“Ah-kay,” Danny said, walking over to her with a seductive grin.

CJ turned back to her. “By the way, Donna, if I haven’t said it yet...” she leered at Danny. “...I’m really enjoying your dream.”

“You’re going to enjoy it more once I get you out of that dress,” Danny growled.

Donna was about ready to smack both of them. Or at least get someone to hose them down.

CJ laughed. “Subtle, Daniel, very subtle.”

“I don’t have time to be subtle," Danny said. "Who knows how soon she’s going to wake up?”

CJ smirked at Danny’s comment, took hold of his arm and turned back to Donna. “I think that’s my cue, Donna. You have fun now and keep that necklace on. I’ll see you later...” she said, beginning to wave her wand.

“Wait!!” Donna yelled.

“Why? What’s wrong?” CJ asked with a frown.

“What do I do now?”

“I can’t tell you that Donna,” CJ replied. “This is your story...dream...vision...thing, whatever. I don’t care...go to Disneyland if you want to.”

“But...how do I get out of here...how do I wake up?”

“You’ll wake-up when you’re ready to be awake,” CJ said.

“I’m not ‘ready’ to be awake right now?” Donna asked incredulously.

“Apparently not.” CJ sighed. “You can go back to your regular life when you’re ready to face your regular life. Until then, you’re stuck here. So I’d get myself ready to face the music, my darling.” 

“CJ...” Donna's head was all but spinning now. “HOW do I get myself ready to face my regular life? Because if we’re waiting around for me to figure out the meaning of existence, we’re gonna be here a while.”

CJ looked at her for a long moment. “You know how,” she said cryptically.

Donna frowned. “I really don’t, CJ.”

“You have the answer inside you, Donna.”

“What do you mean?”

“Donna...what kind of dream would it be if I gave you all the answers?”

“A less confusing one,” Donna replied.

CJ shrugged, making her dress rustle. “True. But it wouldn’t be nearly as fun,” she grinned.

“CJ??!!”

Danny started nibbling on CJ’s neck, making her giggle. “Look, Donna, why don’t you go see the Wizard?” she said quickly, her attention was obviously elsewhere. “He loves to hear himself talk so he’ll probably tell you all kinds of things. He might even be able to help you.”

“The Wizard? Where do I find him?”

Danny had moved up to nibble on her ear. “I really have to go, Donna. Ask Congress. They’ll tell you how to get there.” With that, she waved her wand and she and Danny disappeared, leaving Donna alone with Congress.

“Thanks a bunch, CJ,” Donna mumbled.

“Three cheers for Donna!” Matt Skinner suddenly cheered. “She saved us from both witches!”

“Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!” the Congressmen and women chanted.

Donna did a slow turn. It was surreal to hear all these people continuing to chant her praises. Especially when she hadn’t done anything...at least on purpose. 

‘Okay, Donna, time to wake up,’ she thought. CJ said she had the answer inside her. Could it be as easy as simply wishing it? 

Closing her eyes, she mentally repeated, ‘It’s only a dream...it’s only a dream.’ But when she opened her eyes again Congress was still chanting for her.

Then she tried pinching herself on the arm...hard, but nothing happened.

Donna sighed. ‘Well, it looks like I’m stuck here until I can figure out how to wake up. Maybe I should do what CJ said and go see the Wizard.’ If nothing else, she could get away from the chanting. These people were starting to freak her out a little. She kept waiting for them to turn into munchkins and begin dancing and singing about being in the Lollipop Guild.

Just then there was loud rapping behind them. “COME TO ORDER!” a deep voice commanded.

Donna realized the Speaker of the House was banging his gavel on the front bench. The chants slowly began to die down. When it was quiet, Glenallen Walken cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Miss Moss,” he said.

Even in her dream, the large man was intimidating and she visibly swallowed. “Yes, sir?”

As much as we appreciate the service you’ve provided, we need to get back to legislating so could you please remove yourself from the House chamber?”

“Of course, sir, but...”

“Well, spit it out, darlin’,” he told her.

“Um...can you tell me, how do I find the Wizard?”

“Sure, he lives in Eagle City.” Then he turned to an aide. “And would someone PLEASE clean up that mess?!” he bellowed, referring to Mandy’s body and the boxes that littered the floor.

“Please, Mr. Speaker...” she begged him. “How do I find Eagle City?” she asked. 

He gave a deep belly laugh. “Why, honey, that’s the simplest thing of all. You just follow...”

Donna held up her hand. “All due respect, Mr. Speaker, but I swear if you say ‘the yellow brick road’ I’m going to scream,” she told him.

He frowned. “Why the hell would I say that?! Who in their right mind would want to build a yellow road?!”

Congressman Matt Skinner piped up again. “Yeah, even WE wouldn’t pass a bill to build yellow roads.”

Congressman Chris Wick put in his two cents. “Not to mention the fact that brick roads would break down really fast.”

“LADIES and GENTLEMEN!!” Walken interrupted, banging his gavel again. “Look honey, what I was going to say is, all you have to do is go outside and follow Pennsylvania Avenue all the way...”

“No! Take Independence to 15th Street!” someone shouted.

“Wrong! Take Constitution to 17th Street” someone else shouted.

“No! Listen to the speaker! Take Pennsylvania!” A third added.

Quickly, the room dissolved into arguing over the best way for Donna to find the Wizard. Walken tried to yell and bang his gavel to get their attention, but everyone was involved in their own argument and the sound was almost deafening.

Donna wondered if this was why Congress had a hard time getting anything done.

Finally fed up with these crazy people, she threw up her hands and hurried up the aisle. Pausing at the top of the stairs she took a long last look at the bickering Congressmen and women, then she ducked out of the chamber and made her exit.

**********  
Chapter 3

Donna walked out of the building to find herself on the steps of the west front of the capitol building. It was sunny and the slight breeze and temperature felt like a perfect spring day in D.C. That in itself was weird. The day after tomorrow was the Fourth of July and it should have been warmer, but at the moment, Donna had an even bigger problem.

Everything looked...wrong. Or, more accurately, everything looked like it was in the wrong place.

The landscape had been changed. She should have been looking down toward the National Mall and the Washington and Lincoln memorials. But instead of the familiar open space, she saw what looked to be woods. She could see the Washington Memorial piercing the sky, but it was off in the distance to her far left. Although she could see some white or marble buildings that dotted the now lush, mostly green landscape, nearly all the museums, government buildings, and landmarks seemed to be missing. It was almost as if someone had dropped a larger version of the National Arboretum on top of The Mall and the surrounding areas of D.C.

There was something else that seemed off to her, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. 

Donna was relieved to see that Pennsylvania Avenue was still off to her right, exactly where she’d expected it, but when she descended the Capitol steps she frowned. Rather than being the largely straight expanse she was used to, about 50 yards from where she stood, Pennsylvania Avenue made a wide bend and seemed to disappear into the woods.

‘Maybe it’s not Pennsylvania Avenue in this place. Maybe here, Pennsylvania Avenue is somewhere else,’ she thought. Then she noticed the huge blue sign she was standing next to. It read: PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE - THIS WAY TO EAGLE CITY and a large white arrow pointed the way.

Looking back down Pennsylvania Avenue, it suddenly dawned on her what else about the scene felt off to her...it was a lack of people. As she did a slow circle she realized that she didn’t see another living soul. There also weren’t any cars or traffic. In a town like D.C. where there was never a shortage of people, it was damned eerie, especially on a sunny day.

Under the circumstances, there wasn’t much else she could do but start down Pennsylvania Avenue to find this Wizard person everyone was talking about. The sooner she found him, the sooner she could wake up from this weird dream and leave bizarro Washington world behind. She tried to take comfort in the fact that no people meant she probably wasn’t going to get mugged or anything.

‘At least I’m wearing comfortable shoes,’ she thought as she looked down at the sneakers on her feet.

There wasn’t much in the way of a sidewalk, but there was a nice, empty flat stretch of open black-top, so Donna set off, keeping to the center of the road. It felt a little weird to be walking down the middle of the street, but she thought it would help give her a little bit of space in case something or someone jumped out at her.

If the scene hadn’t been so strange and surreal, it actually would have been a nice walk. The light canopy of tree branches kept the road cool, but not uncomfortably so. Sunlight was coming in through the gaps in the branches to dapple the road with lovely shadows.

The couple of buildings she did pass beside the road either didn’t have windows or they were painted over, so she couldn’t see if anyone or anything was inside. She knocked on a couple of doors out of curiosity, but no one answered, all the doors she tried were locked, and she didn’t hear any noises from inside. 

“I sure hope Eagle City has a few more people than this,” she muttered as she continued down the road. Although she kept passing more signs stating she was still on Pennsylvania Avenue and pointing the way to Eagle City, the road continued to curve and twist and looked nothing like the Pennsylvania Avenue she remembered.

As she came around a particularly sharp bend in the road, more of a turn than a bend really, she blinked at the sight that emerged. The trees were thinner here, letting in more sunlight. Off to the right side of road, driven firmly into the ground was a large campaign sign. A “Seaborn for Congress” campaign sign to be exact, with a full sized picture of Sam on it. A very strange, full-sized picture of Sam.

As Donna got closer, she realized that it wasn’t a picture of Sam after all...it WAS Sam. Or at least, it was what looked like Sam. From where she was standing, he looked like his back was somehow stuck to the background of the sign. He was about a foot off the ground, just high enough there was no way his feet could find purchase on anything. Softly snoring, with his head bowed, he appeared to be asleep.

He was dressed in his usual dark suit and white dress shirt, but his clothes seemed lumpy and there were bits of what looked like straw or hay sticking out at his ankles, wrists, waist, and collar. His hair had been gelled to within an inch of its life to stick out in all directions. 

Happy to see someone familiar, she stepped a little closer and lightly touched his arm. “Sam?”

Giving a rather loud snort, he immediately awoke. “Orange County’s beaches are a national treasure,” he blurted. 

Donna frowned. “What?”

Blinking rapidly, he tried to clear the sleep out of his head. Finally, he managed to focus in on her. “Donna?”

She smiled that he recognized her and did indeed appear to be the Sam she knew. “Hey, Sam.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I wish I knew......it’s kind of a long story,” she explained. “Right now I’m on my way to Eagle City to see the Wizard. Congress said he might be able to tell me how to wake up.”

Sam frowned. “You’re not awake now? I mean, you look pretty awake to me.”

“It’s weird, I know,” she acknowledged. “I can’t really explain it myself...that’s part of the long story.” She sighed in frustration. “Apparently, this is all part of some stupid dream I’m having.”

“O-kay,” Sam replied still looking a little confused.

“Um...Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you hanging from this sign?”

“’Cause Orange County’s beaches are a national treasure.”

“I think you said that already,” she replied.

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “It’s kind of a reflex.”

“How did you get up there?”

“Amy did it,” he told her. “She said since I lost the election, I was bad luck and staked me up here to act as her personal scarecrow. You know, to ward off anyone who thought about crossing her.”

“Seriously?” 

“Oh yeah. Then she said I should look the part and shoved straw in every possible crevice and stuck me on this poster,” he explained, shaking his arms a little, causing a few loose pieces to fall from his sleeves. “You know, she really is freakishly strong.”

Donna smothered a grin. “Um...did she do that to your hair too?” she asked.

A look of mortification crossed his face as he reached up and touched one of the points his hair had been formed into. “Yeah, God knows what she put in it to make it hold this shape.”

“Why did she want it to look like that in the first place?”

“She’s a witch, Donna, beyond that I don’t think she needed a reason.”

Donna looked at him. “This is probably a stupid question, but do you like being up there?”

“I couldn’t hate it more,” he told her. “And you wouldn’t believe how much this straw itches.” Trying to scratch himself, he squirmed around like a bug on a pin.

“Why on earth hasn’t anyone else helped you down?” she asked, outraged that people would just leave him hanging there.

“Everyone’s in hiding. That’s why you don’t see anyone walking around. They’re all scared of her. You’re actually the first person I’ve seen since she put me up here,” he told her. “Besides, she threatened to harm anyone who helped me.”

She gaped at him. “Well, I’m not leaving you like this, Sam! I’ll help you get down.”

“Really?” he said with a relieved smile. “But what about her threats?”

Donna shrugged. “She’s already out to get me, so what have I got to lose?” 

“Thanks, Donna, really.” He waited as she looked behind him to see how he was attached to the poster. 

“Hmmm...” she murmured.

“Hmmm...? That doesn’t sound good,” he commented.

“Well, I just don’t see how you’re attached.” She pulled on his jacket where it was attached, but it didn’t budge. “You don’t seem to be on a hook or anything, you’re just...stuck.” She considered the problem. “If I could somehow lift you up, do you think would be able to slip out of your jacket?”

He moved around a bit. “I don’t think lifting me up is going to do any good,” he told her. “It feels like my whole back is attached, not just my jacket. You know, like I’m a magnet and the sign is metal.”

“Well, if that’s the case, maybe I just need more leverage.” Donna looked around for something that might help. She spied a large fallen branch lying nearby. “Let me try this.” Picking up the branch, she brought it over and slid the smaller end of it behind his back. Giving it a couple of long, hard tugs, she tried to pry him off.

“Ow!” Sam cried.

Donna instantly stopped. “Does it hurt?” 

“Just where the branch is digging into my back,” he replied obviously frustrated.

“Oh, sorry, Sam. Okay, no branch,” she said dropping it. “All right...there has to be a way. Just let me think for a second.” 

“Take your time, I’m not going anywhere,” Sam said.

Slowly, she walked in a circle around the poster. His arms, legs and head were free. Only the center of his upper back, down to the skin, seemed to be attached. And she couldn’t see how. It defied logic. She couldn’t pry him off and he couldn’t climb down. Hmmm...

She rubbed at the back of her neck as she considered the problem. As she did, her hand touched the chain the Ruby Goldfish was hanging from and it gave her an idea. 

“It couldn’t be that easy, could it?” she murmured as she looked down at the sparkling pendant and ran her fingers over it.

It felt slightly warm and almost tingled against her fingers. Taking hold of the pendant and being sure to keep the chain securely around her neck, she leaned in and touched it to Sam’s arm.

Of course, she forgot to mention what she was doing to Sam, so when he suddenly popped free of the campaign poster, he wasn’t ready and with a surprised scream he tumbled face first into the grass.

“Oh, God, Sam! I’m sorry,” Donna said rushing over to him. 

With a loud groan he rolled over and rubbed his nose. “Geez, Donna, would a little notice have killed you?” he demanded.

“I’m really sorry,” she said again. “Are you okay?” She had to work hard not to laugh.

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he told her with a sigh. “What did you do?”

“I touched you with my pendant,” she said holding it up.

He stared at it for a moment. “Where did you get that?”

“CJ gave it to me...”

“CJ?! You saw CJ?”

“Yeah, back at the Capitol, but....well she wasn’t quite herself,” she said, not really wanting to try and explain. “It’s part of that long story I mentioned. But the pendant is the reason why Amy’s after me. CJ gave it to me, but Amy wanted it. I think it’s some kind of charm or spell-breaker or something like that. CJ didn’t really tell me how to use it. She just said as long as I wear it I’m safe from Amy. Oh, and Amy can’t ensorcell Josh.” She paused. “Anyway, it occurred to me that it might break whatever spell she’d put on you to keep you hanging there."

"Good thinking."

"I just wish I had an owner’s manual for thing,” she said wrapping her hand around the pendant thoughtfully.

“Yeah, that would be helpful,” Sam agreed.

“So what are you going to do now that you're not on the sign anymore?” she asked him.

“I don’t know, I mean Orange County’s beaches are a national treasure, but the election’s over and I lost,” he said, standing up and brushing himself off, he caused more straw to scatter. “Technically, that means I’m out of a job.” He thought about it for a second. “Can I just come with you?”

“You want to come with me to Eagle City?” Donna asked.

“Well, as it turns out I don’t have anything else to do at the moment,” Sam told her as he squirmed uncomfortably. “Except maybe pulling all this straw out of my suit,” he said pulling a handful out of his waistband and tossing it aside. “And I thought sand in my shorts was uncomfortable.” He saw Donna watching him. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said with a bemused smile. 

“So, what do you say? Would you mind some company?” he asked. 

“I’d love some company,” she told him with a grin.

“Good, because I want to ask that Wizard of yours how I go about getting my mind back. I mean, I think you’ll agree that I pretty much lost mine when I said I’d run for Congress. I got my ass kicked. I’m a laughing stock!” Sam moaned. “At the very least, I’ll ask him to give me a spine. I can’t believe the way I let everyone tell me what to do and what to say. I felt so much like just a pretty face, I might as well have been a puppet. I should have stood up more for what I really thought. I still might have lost, but at least I would have been able to look myself in the mirror.”

“Sam, come on, stop blaming yourself. The deck was pretty heavily stacked against you,” she pointed out. “And if I’ve learned anything during this little trip, it’s that you have to keep moving forward.” She looped her arm through his. “Now, are you sure you want to come with me? I mean with Amy being out to get me and all?”

He squeezed her arm. “I’m sure. Besides, I owe you for getting me off that sign. And although I don’t know how much help I’ll be, I’d rather you weren’t wandering around out here by yourself."

“On that, Sam we definitely agree,” she said with a smile. “Okay, let’s get the show on the road.” Together they stepped back onto Pennsylvania Avenue.

“Orange County’s beaches really are a national treasure though,” Sam said as they started walking.

“So I’ve heard,” she answered with a smile. “Sam...just out of curiosity, are you going to keep saying that all the way to Eagle City?”

“Sorry, I’ve said it so many times, I don’t think I can turn it off. I tell you what, every time I say it, I give you permission to give me a smack in the head.”

“Can I get that in writing?” Donna teased.

“Don’t push your luck,” he said with a smirk as he shook more straw out of his jacket.

They walked in a companionable silence for a bit. 

“Um...Donna...?” Sam finally ventured.

“Yes, Sam?” she said patiently hoping that he wasn’t going to start talking about Orange County’s beaches again.

“Would you keep your eye out for some water? I want to wash this crap out of my hair as soon as possible.”

Donna’s laugh trailed behind them as they rounded the next bend in the road. “Will, do Sam.”

**********  
Chapter 4

“You know, Sam, it really is weird. I know you said people are hiding, but we’ve been walking for an hour and we still haven’t seen anyone,” Donna told him. “I’d think there’d be a couple people that weren’t scared of Amy.”

“No, Donna, weird is having hay shoved into nearly every bodily orifice,” Sam said shaking his leg hard to try and get some more of the stuff out. 

For the fiftieth time, Donna had to try not to laugh. He looked kind of like a cat that had stepped in something wet and unpleasant.

“Straw, Sam,” she corrected with a bemused smile.

“What?” he asked with a frown. 

“You’re stuffed full of straw, not hay. Hay is alfalfa or grass that’s been cut and dried. Straw is cut grain with seeds and the stalk,” she explained. “And since I see both seed and stalks...”

“Donna, when it’s stuffed in places that God never meant hay or straw to be, what the hell does it matter?”

“Fair point,” she conceded.

SPLUSH! SPLISH! SPLUSH! SPLASH!

“What the hell are we standing in?” Donna demanded as they both looked down at their feet.

“Well, unless I’m mistaken, we’re standing in water,” Sam replied.

Donna rolled her eyes. “I was being rhetorical, Sam.”

“Rhetorical or not, this just makes my day complete. All I needed was to have SOGGY hay stuffed in my equally soggy shoes,” he said, picking up his leg and shaking it. The shaking didn’t do much for the water but it did manage to dislodge another piece of straw.

“Sam, I already told you it’s not hay, it’s....”

“Donna...I beg you, please don’t go there again,” Sam interrupted.

“Okay,” she grinned. “Hey, but soggy shoes aside we’ve found you some water so you can wash that...whatever it is...out of your hair.”

He brightened instantly. “HEY!! You’re right!” Apparently now unconcerned with getting wet, Sam dropped to his knees and dunked his head into the water and began scrubbing furiously.

As he worked at his hair, Donna stepped out of the water and looked around. It suddenly dawned on her exactly where they were.

“Sam...do you know what we were standing in?”

“I think...” he said, as he scrubbed happily. “We just established...” Splash. “...it’s water.”

“No! I mean WHERE,” she clarified.

“At this point Donna, I don’t care where. I just care that it’s water.” Whatever he was rinsing out of his hair, made the water around him slightly foamy.

“It’s the Mall’s Reflecting Pool,” she told him.

Sploosh. “I don’t care if it’s the swimming pool hidden under the White House press room.”

Donna had to resist the crazy urge to push him face first into the water. Instead, she studied their surroundings a bit more closely. The reason she hadn’t recognized the reflecting pool at first was that it...like most of DC she’d seen, wasn’t where it should have been and didn’t look like she remembered. Besides the fact that the pool shouldn't have crossed Pennsylvania Avenue, much of the wide, foot-deep pool was covered by a canopy of trees, while grasses and other plants on the ground had covered the edges. Now that she knew what she was looking at she could follow it and see pretty much to each end. Not surprisingly, she couldn’t see either the Washington Monument or Lincoln Memorial where they should have been in relation to it either.

The other thing that seemed strange and out of place to her were the things that randomly dotted the landscape and the pool itself. Statues. Stone statues, so grey they looked almost silver. Big statues, little statues, statues of people, men, women, children, dogs, and what looked to be a tame lion. Walking, sitting, running, standing, even laughing...they seemed to be all in various stages of motion or activity. 

However, they didn’t seem to be in any special arrangement, in fact, it looked more like the people and creatures had been moving in and around the reflecting pool and had been instantly turned into statues. Even though there was a quiet beauty to the scene as sunlight fell down the center of the pool between the two rows of trees and then in patches as it slipped through the gaps in the canopy, there was an eeriness about the scene. It was the same eeriness that Donna had felt at not seeing anyone besides Sam since she’d left the Capitol building.

Then something off to their right caught her eye. One of the statues looked a little different from the others. Walking over to it, she realized why.

Donna blinked in surprise. The statue looked just like Toby. It even had a black beard like Toby.

It was not quite the same grayish/silver color that the other statues were. The face and neck were flesh toned, while the standard suit of clothes it was wearing looked shiny, almost like...steel...no, not steel, it was tin and there was a funny little cone shaped hat on it’s head, almost like a metal party hat. If she hadn’t been so surprised, she probably would have laughed at the hat.

The eyes on the statue were closed and it stood perfectly still with one hand in its pants pocket in a dead-on imitation of Toby. 

Reaching out, Donna touched the cheek. Much to her surprise, the skin was warm and pliable. To her even bigger surprise, the eyes popped open, making her jump back a couple steps and let out a little cry.

“Oh, finally,” he grumbled stiffly. 

“Toby?” Donna asked with a frown.

“Who were you expecting...Benjamin D’Israeli?” 

“No...I...” she stammered. “I just...I didn’t realize you weren’t a statue.”

“Well, I sure feel like one,” he groused. “Next time you have a dream, or whatever, could you please not put me in an uncomfortable metal suit?” He ran a finger along the collar of his apparently also metal or metallic shirt. 

“Uh...sure,” she said, even though she didn’t exactly feel responsible for putting him in one right now. After all, she was an unwilling participant in this dream or hallucination or whatever just as much as he was. It wasn’t as if she’d sat down and plotted what everyone was going to do or wear. 

Wait. How did Toby know this was a dream? Although CJ had known, Sam had been clueless to that fact.

Before she could ask him that, Sam walked up to them. “You don’t know anything about being uncomfortable until you’ve had hay shoved down your pants,” he commented trying to squeeze the water out of his now at least semi-clean hair since he didn’t have a towel. He shot Donna a glare when she looked like she was going to bring up the hay vs. straw argument.

“Sam, you look like you stuck your head in an oil slick,” Toby told him. 

“Well, anything is better than the way it looked before,” Sam told him raking his hands through his hair to get it to lie down.

“By the way, just what the hell are you doing here?” Toby asked him. “I expected Donna, but not you.”

“I don’t know,” Sam told him. “One minute I’m in California minding my own business, talking about how Orange County beaches are a national treasure, and the next thing I know, I’ve got that witch Amy yelling at me and doing all kinds of unpleasant things to me. If Donna hadn’t come along I’d still be posing as a human billboard.”

“A human...?” Toby began. “You know what, I don’t care.” 

“You knew I was coming?” Donna asked Toby in confusion. That surreal feeling had come back.

“Yeah, CJ told me to expect you. Look, I’ll tell you about it in a minute,” he said. “But first, I’m feeling a bit rusty, can I have...”

“Oil?” she guessed thinking of his tin suit and the stiffness in his movements.

“No, Jack Daniel’s,” Toby replied with a frown. “Why the hell would I want oil? Jack Daniel’s definitely goes down smoother. Could you hand me the bottle? I can’t exactly bend over in this suit,” he said pointing to the ground by his feet where Donna saw a bottle of Jack Daniels sitting.

“Oh, sure,” she said picking up the bottle and handing it to him. She watched as he unscrewed the bottle and took a drink straight from the bottle. His movements seemed to smooth out and become more fluid as she imagined the alcohol spread through him.

Toby took another drink, then swallowed and sighed a little. “That’s much better.” He stared at her for a minute. “It’s about damn time you got here,” he told Donna. ”What...do you think I’ve got all day to stand around waiting for you to show up? I’ve been waiting for you so long, I fell asleep standing up.”

Donna blinked again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d be waiting. CJ might have told you about me, but she failed to mention you to me.”

“Well, I’m not surprised,” Toby commented. “I think the corset they’ve got her laced into is cutting off the blood and oxygen to her brain.”

Sam swallowed hard. “Are you trying to tell me...CJ’s wearing a corset...and nothing else?”

“No, Sam, under her dress,” Donna told him in annoyance. “Get your mind out of the gutter or I’ll do what I know she’d do if she was here and smack you in the head.”

“Oh, oh-kay...sorry. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone in their underwear. Campaigning is hell on the social life,” Sam commented.

“Yeah, Sam, life is hard in the aluminum siding business,” Toby commented.

“Hey, no fair stealing my material,” Sam said, still trying to smooth his hair back into place.

“Okay, you two, knock it off. We’re getting way off track,” Donna put in. “Toby you said CJ told you I was coming. How did you know I was here but Sam didn’t?”

“Because Sam’s been in California and out of the loop.”

Well, that made sense...kind of...at least as much sense as anything else had since she’d fallen into this dream or hallucination. “All right,” she commented not knowing what else to say.

“Do you mind if I smoke? I’m dying for a cigar,” Toby said pulling a new cigar out of his pocket. 

“Just don’t light it near me,” Sam commented pulling another piece out of his collar. “Or with all this hay...STRAW...” he said for Donna’s benefit. “I’ll turn into the human torch.”

Toby smirked a little, but didn’t say anything. He searched his pocket for a lighter but all he could come up with was a single match but nothing to strike it on. Getting a flash of inspiration, he casually struck it on the shoulder of his tin suit. The match flashed into life. “Well, that was pretty convenient,” he commented, sticking the cigar in his mouth and lighting it.

“Toby, what happened to all these people and animals?” Donna asked referring to the statues in and around the reflecting pool. “Are they really statues?”

“I have no idea, they were like that when I got here,” he replied. “If they aren’t statues or weren’t always statues, I’m guessing Amy did it. She’s a witch and turning people to stone sounds like a witch thing to me.”

Something new occurred to Donna. “Toby...since you, Sam and CJ are here, does that mean that Josh is here too?”

He looked at her for a minute. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” she asked. Of all people to be in this dream, she figured Josh would be among them. Lord knew he’d been the star in enough of her dreams in the past.

“Because you’re not ready,” he answered.

Donna frowned. CJ had said something similar to her. “What does that mean?” she demanded.

“Just what I said,” Toby said. “Until you’re ready to face your life and wake up, you’re not ready to face Josh, not even in this dream...especially in this dream.”

“Next time I have a dream I swear I’m going to remember to make everyone less cryptic about stuff,” Donna replied in irritation. 

Toby shrugged. “Be that as it may, in this dream you’re stuck with us.”

Donna ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “Okay, whatever. So I suppose you’re coming with Sam and me to see the Wizard.”

“Oh, so that’s where you’re going,” Toby replied with a nod.

“Didn’t CJ tell you?” Donna asked.

“No, she was kind of busy, what with Danny nibbling on her ear and all,” he commented. “All she managed to say was that you were coming and to help you out if I could.”

“She and Danny are having a thing?” Sam asked.

“Just here,” Donna told him. “Like I told you, she isn’t quite herself.”

“So why are you going to see the Wizard?” Toby asked her.

“Well, CJ thought maybe he might be able to tell me how to wake up.”

Toby gave her a long look. “You don’t need him, you know,” he told her. “You already know how to wake up.” 

“CJ said the same thing, but I still have no idea what you two are talking about,” she told him. “I don’t suppose you want to explain it?”

“I can’t,” he said with a tone of regret. “I’m not allowed.”

“Not allowed?!” she demanded hotly. “Says who?”

“There are rules, Donna, even here in this dream,” Toby said. “Some things you have to figure out for yourself.”

Donna wanted to stomp her foot in frustration. “Toby! I wish you and CJ would stop talking in riddles! Can’t you at least give me a hint or something?”

Toby considered that. “You’re scared. You can’t wake up because you’re scared.”

Donna blinked at him in surprise, she hadn’t expected that response. She thought about it for a minute. She didn’t feel scared. 

“I’m not scared,” she insisted. “Confused...bewildered, yes, but not scared,” she told him.

Toby gave Donna a dubious look. “You’re scared,” he repeated.

“Fine! If you say so,” she said throwing up her hands. “So just what is it that I’m supposed to be scared of?”

“You wanted a hint, Donna, and that’s what I gave you. Anything more than that and...”

“...and I might figure it out!!” she yelled.

Toby was unfazed by her anger. “Anything more than that would keep you from figuring it out...on your own.”

The conversation was giving her a headache. “Fine, I get it,” she said tugging on her hair. “Self-exploration...journey of discovery...blah, blah.”

Toby turned to Sam. “And what about you, wet head?” 

Sam pulled more straw out of his suit. “Technically, I’m going with her to see if the Wizard can help me find the brain I lost when I decided to run for Congress.”

“God, Sam, you’re still harping on that?" Toby said. "I told you, it wasn’t your fault. Would you please, just get over yourself already?”

“Toby, you weren’t the one who got his ass kicked and you weren’t the one who let himself get led around by the nose,” Sam replied. “I swear, the only way I could have been more of ‘yes man’ was if I’d had a Edgar Bergen sitting behind me with his hand shoved into my back.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure that Edgar Bergen is dead, but...”

“You know what I mean, Toby!”

“Yes, Sam, I know what you mean.” He said with a sigh. “But I also seem to remember that you were the one who, when everyone said not to, impaled yourself and your campaign to support the President and his tax plan.”

“And you fired that campaign guy who called me stupid for meeting with the Communist Party guy in California,” Donna pointed out. She looped her arm through Sam’s and gave it a squeeze. “You were my hero that day.”

Sam almost blushed under their praise. “Thanks, guys.” He smiled at Donna and looked back at Toby. “Actually, the real reason I’m going with her to Eagle City to see the Wizard is because I owe her for saving me from being the human billboard and because I didn’t want her running around by herself when Amy’s out to get her.”

“Wait, Amy’s out to get you?” Toby asked her. “CJ left out that little detail too.”

Donna shrugged. “Yeah, but CJ said as long as I wear this necklace...” She held up the Ruby Goldfish pendant. “...Amy can’t really hurt me or ensorcell Josh.”

“So what do you say, Toby?” Sam asked. “You want to come with us?”

“Well...” Toby said as he scuffed at the ground a bit. “I can’t let you guys have all the fun.”

Sam and Donna exchanged a grin. “So what are you going to ask the Wizard for?” Donna asked Toby.

He jiggled or tried to jiggle the contents of his pants pocket, but since the pants were tin, it was more like a rattle than a jiggle. “I don’t think he can give me what I really want.”

“Why?” Donna asked with a frown. “What do you want?”

“A family,” Toby said quietly. “Somehow, I don’t think even the Wizard will get Andi to weaken and get her to agree to re-marry me.” He scuffed at the ground again. “I guess I just wanted a chance to do things right for the twins. It gives me a kind of...hollow feeling right...here,” he said banging lightly on his chest and causing a slight echo.

Donna hooked her other arm through Toby’s so she was wedged between him and Sam. “Well, Toby, you never know, he might be able to help or at least give you some good advice about it,” she pointed out. “In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

He gave her a slightly dubious look again. “It wouldn’t, you know, be tempting the Wizard, from high atop the thing?”

“I don’t think so,” she answered. 

Toby stared at her for a long moment. “Will dancing and singing be involved in this trip?” he asked.

Donna laughed. “No, Toby. Fancy production numbers will not be part of our little expedition.”

He nodded approvingly. “Okay, count me in.” 

“Good,” she said with a grin. “Now let’s get moving. From where the sun is now, I’m guessing that it will be getting dark soon and I’d like to try and get to Eagle City before then.”

“Wait...first there’s something I’ve got to do,” Toby said. Slipping his arm from hers he snatched the metal party hat off his head and tossed it over his shoulder. “There...now we can go.”

Donna grinned at him as she slipped her arm back through his, and together the three of them turned and continued back down Pennsylvania Avenue, their voices trailing into the early evening air. 

“Hey, Toby...”

“Yes, Sam?” 

“Did you know that Orange County beaches are a national treasure?”

“No, but I know is it’s going to be a hell of a long trip to Eagle City,” Toby muttered as they disappeared around a bend in the road.

**********  
Chapter 5

The three of them walked for a while. To the casual observer, it actually would have been a little funny to see them. Or more accurately ‘hear’ them. It wasn’t so much their actual conversation, which was ordinary enough, except, of course, for Toby and Sam’s usual banter/bickering. It was more the other sounds they were making.

Toby’s tin suit clinked and clanked, the straw in Sam’s suit rustled and his shoes, still wet from his dip in the reflection pool, squished, and Donna, well, Donna was quiet but she had a constant smirk on her fact as if she continued to try and stifle her laughter at the absurdity of it all. At that point it was laugh or cry.

Donna had decided that she was going to stop being surprised at everything and just go with it. Rather than seeing what was happening to her as something bad, she decided to see it as more of grand adventure.

They entered a section of the road that narrowed a bit. Not because the road bed was any smaller, but because the trees and bushes were overgrown here and had spilled over onto the blacktop. It wasn’t creepy exactly, just a little disconcerting. It didn’t help that the sun had begun to set and was casting long shadows over everything and making the temperature slowly drop.

“Great, and I thought dry straw was bad,” Sam complained as he tugged at the seat of his pants. “Wet straw is definitely worse.”

“Oh, stop complaining, at least you don’t squeak when you walk,” Toby said as he took another puff of his cigar. A cigar which had burned down about halfway and had stopped...not gone out, but stopped getting smaller...much to Toby’s delight. He’d apparently found the cigar version of an everlasting gobstopper.

“You know, Toby, I wish you would stop belittling my discomfort by comparing it to yours,” Sam told him. “I mean why can’t both of us just suffer in our own way?”

“Maybe we could if you’d suffer IN SILENCE,” Toby shot back. “But since you insist on continually commenting about it, I feel obliged to respond.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but...”

Donna was about to tell them both that they were giving her a headache when someone else stepped into fray to keep them in check.

“WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY!” Leo said with a roar as he bounded out of a thick clump of bushes.

The three of them jumped back a step in surprise.

“I swear, I heard you two coming up the road from a mile away. Can’t you manage to stop bickering for five minutes?!” Leo demanded.

They stood there looking at him, their mouths hanging open.

“Leo?” Sam finally managed.

“Of course, it’s me.”

“What are you wearing?” Sam asked in disbelief.

“That’s what I’d like to know!” Leo roared. “What the hell is the meaning of this, Donna!”

Donna blinked at him in surprise. “Wh...wh...why are you asking me?”

“It’s your dream isn’t it?!” he pointed out.

“Well, I guess so, but...”

“One minute, I’m sitting in my office reading a briefing memo and the next thing I know I’m in the middle of Donna’s dream, standing in some bushes and wearing the mother of all fur coats!” He tugged in frustration at what looked like a zipper going down the front of the coat. 

Although it was squared off at the knee and had regular cuffs at both wrists like a regular dress coat would be, it looked almost like he wearing a lion costume. The fur was a lovely golden color and if it was half as silky as it looked, it would be incredibly soft to the touch. The two things that made if differ from simply being a golden fur coat was a long tail coming out of the back of it and a hood that covered Leo’s head that was fringed with long hair just like a lion’s mane.

“I mean, of all things to stick me in, why a fur coat?!” Leo demanded with a glare at Donna. “It’s hot, it’s heavy, I can’t get it off, it gets stuck on every little branch and twig, I keep tripping over this damn tail, the hood is itchy, and the whole thing kind of smells.”

By then, Sam had gotten curious enough to step forward and he reached out to touch Leo’s sleeve. “Well, Leo, you’re in luck, I’m pretty sure it’s a fake fur and not a real lion skin,” Sam said, trying to be helpful.

“Yeah, Sam, that helps me a lot, thanks,” Leo groused. “Oh, would you stop touching me,” he said jerking his arm away from Sam.

“I...Leo...I didn’t...I don’t know why you’re wearing that,” Donna stammered. “I didn’t wish it or anything.”

“And yet here I stand, wearing a lion suit. I’m an important guy, with an important job to do. I don’t have all day to stand around in this...whatever it is, while you and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum wander around contemplating the meaning of life and figuring out what you need to do to wake up.”

Donna glanced meaningfully at Toby, who only continued to puff happily, but silently on his everlasting cigar. She looked back to Leo. “I don’t suppose you’d like to help that process along by telling me what I actually, you know, need to DO to wake-up?”

Leo spread his hands apologetically. “Hey, Donna, you know I’m all about moving things along, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. If you can’t figure out the solution on your own, I can’t help you.” 

“You don’t know, do you?” she challenged.

“Of course, I know, Donna. I know everything except how to get this damn coat off,” he replied. “But my hands are tied.”

“Sounds familiar,” she said glaring at Toby again.

Leo continued. “Now, like I said I’ve got important work to do, so if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to get off this flying merry-go-around.”

Donna felt herself getting a little annoyed at Leo. After all, it wasn’t like she’d asked to be there any more than he had. “Leo, seriously,” she said with a sarcastic snort. ”I can’t even wake myself up. What makes you think I have any clue how to boot you out of this dream?”

He stared at her hard for a moment, almost as if he was going to yell some more. Then he let out a sigh and the anger seemed to go out of him. “Well, can you at least help me get this damn thing off?”

She laughed and felt herself relax a bit. “Well, I can try.”

Stepping over to him, she and Sam tugged and pulled at the lion coat/suit. Not only did the zipper appear to be well and truly stuck, but they couldn’t pull it over his head. They couldn’t even pull the hood back from his head. 

“Sorry, Leo, I’m afraid it’s going to stay where it is,” Donna told him.

“Hey, Donna, try your pendant,” Sam suggested. “Maybe it’s a spell or something.”

“Good idea,” she replied with a hopeful smile.

“What pendant?” Leo asked.

“My Ruby Goldfish pendant,” she said holding it up to show him. “It helped me free Sam.”

“Free Sam from what?” Leo asked. He held up his hand before they could answer. “It doesn’t matter.” 

Toby smirked at Sam. “See, I’m not the only one who doesn’t care.”

“Okay, so...” Leo told Donna with an impatient shrug. “...work your voodoo or whatever so I can get back to work.”

If it would make him stop growling at her, Donna would gladly get that thing off of him. “All right, but I can’t promise it will work,” she said lifting the pendant to touch his arm. “Try the zipper or the hood, Sam,” she said as she held the pendant against Leo. 

Sam tugged and pulled the zipper, but nothing happened. “Nope.”

“That’s it?!” Leo demanded. “Don’t you need some magic words or something?”

“Leo, do I look like the new female Houdini?” Donna shot back. “When I freed Sam all I had to do was touch him with the pendant, but it doesn’t seem to be working with you,” she said apologetically as she let the pendant drop back down against her skin.

“Maybe it takes longer,” Leo suggested, not willing to give up so easily.

“Nooo, trust me Leo, it happens pretty much instantaneously,” Sam said, rubbing absently at his knee. It had been the first thing to hit the ground when he’d fallen off the campaign poster.

“I think it worked for Sam because it was Amy’s spell that was keeping him imprisoned and this charm works against Amy,” Donna said, trying to offer an explanation. “But I don’t think Amy put you in that suit.”

“Yeah, apparently I have YOU to thank for that,” Leo snapped.

Donna sighed. For a dream, HER dream, she wasn’t having all that much fun. Since could get yelled at by Leo in the real world, it really sucked that she had to put up with it her dream too. “I said I was sorry.”

“That does me a lot of good, Donna, thanks,” Leo grumbled.

“Okay, that’s it!” Donna said, feeling a surge of real anger. All three men instantly fell into silence. “I would never have the nerve to say this if we weren’t having a dream, but I’ve had just about enough from you, Leo!” 

Sam, Toby and Leo stood there in shocked silence with their mouths hanging open.

Donna threw out her hands defensively as she continued. “I’m sorry that I’ve apparently dragged you, all three of you, here with me to do...whatever the hell it is I’m supposed to do, but I’m getting tired of being made out to be the bad guy in this situation! Regardless of whatever lame ass lesson I’m here to learn, I’m just as much an unwilling participant as the three of you are.”

“Now...” she continued as she straightened her blouse, stood up a bit straighter, and let out a breath. “I’m going to go see the Wizard. If any of you would like to come with me you’re welcome to, but if you’re going whine, bitch, moan and generally harass me the whole time you can just stay here!” With that, she fell silent, crossed her arms over her chest, and stood there looking at the three of them expectantly.

Sam was the first to speak. “Well, I’m in. I already told you that I owe you and I want to help you. Besides, we’ve come too far for me to back out now,” he said walking over to stand by her. “Oh, and I promise to shut up about the straw.”

Donna smiled sweetly at him and looked back at Toby and Leo.

Toby took a puff on his cigar and shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do right now, I mean it’s not like I’ve got a speech to write or a message to put together.” He toed the ground a bit with his shoe. “Besides, I promised CJ I would help you.” Walking over to Donna, he stood on her other side and leaned close to her. “And although the suit is a little uncomfortable, with this cigar and my bottle of Jack Daniels, I really don’t have anything to complain about, I just like arguing with Sam.” With a little grin he put the cigar back in his mouth.

Donna grinned at Toby and the three of them turned back to look at Leo. He stood alone, looking completely miserable in his lion coat.

“Oh, for the love-a, Mike,” Leo grumbled. “Fine, I’m sorry, I won’t complain, but if I have a thing and fall down from heat stroke you’ll know why.” He held up his hand. “That was the last time.” He stared at them for a moment. “Besides, if I don’t come along you’ll probably never get things figured out and we’ll never be able to get back to running the country.”

Donna smirked benevolently at him. Leo was always going to be Leo, even in a dream where he was dressed in a fake lion suit. “Come on,” Donna said as she turned and took the lead as they started back down the road again.

“I assume Donna’s going to see him to figure out how to wake up, but why are you two going to see the Wizard?” Leo asked as they walked down the road in the rapidly fading light.

“I’m going to see if he can help me find the brain I lost when I decided to run for Congress,” Sam replied.

“Aw, Geez, Sam, it wasn’t your fault...”

“I’ll save you the time and trouble, Leo, Donna and I have already covered that with him,” Toby said.

“I’m also going to ask him why I can’t stop saying Orange County beaches are a national treasure,” Sam added. “I’m even starting to annoy myself.”

“Toby...” Donna warned quickly. “...don’t say it.”

Toby’s mouth snapped closed on the snarky comment he’d apparently been planning to make. “Killjoy...” he muttered as he stuffed his cigar back in mouth.

“So, Toby, what could you possibly want from the Wizard?” Leo asked him. “I mean other than the name of a better tailor?” he said with a snicker referring to his tin suit.

Toby rolled his eyes a bit and took a puff on his cigar, but didn’t rise to the bait. “Actually, I’m going along more to help out Donna than anything else.” His voice got a little softer and he slid his hand into his pocket. “I seriously doubt that the Wizard could give me the family I want.”

Leo had been teasing and hadn’t expected the seriousness of Toby’s answer. Even more surprising was Leo’s equally serious answer. “You’ll have that family, Toby.”

“So what do you want from the Wizard?” Donna asked Leo.

“Ack...I don’t need anything from the Wizard or from anyone else. Except maybe to get this stupid coat off so I can get back to work.” 

“Sounds fair,” Donna comment. “Leo, you don’t happen to know how much farther it is to Eagle City, do you?” 

The sun had dipped completely below the horizon and it was beginning to get dark in earnest. It didn’t help that there didn’t seem to be much in the way of street lights along Pennsylvania Avenue. She’d wanted to get there before it got dark. Things in her dream were eerie enough in the light of day and she imagined that in the dark it was going to be downright scary. She just hoped they weren’t scary enough to turn this dream into a nightmare. 

“I think it’s just up around the bend in the road,” Leo replied. He glanced at Toby. In the falling light, he could just make out Toby’s outline and the slightly red embers at the end of Toby’s cigar. “Hey, Toby, you got one of those cigars for me?”

Toby pulled the cigar out of his mouth. “You smoke?” he asked in surprise.

“Once upon a time,” Leo replied. “Although mostly cigarettes.”

“All I’ve got are cigars,” Toby told him.

“Well, right now any tobacco in the storm,” Leo answered.

Amused, Toby looked at him for a minute and then pulled one out and handed it to Leo. “Just don’t set your fur on fire,” Toby cautioned with a little smirk.

“Right,” Leo replied as he bit the end off the cigar. “You got a light?”

“I used my one and only match to light mine. But you can borrow my cigar.” They both stopped walking as Donna and Sam walked on ahead. Toby took a few quick hard puffs on the cigar to get it good and hot and he held it up while Leo used it to light his new cigar. 

“Thanks,” Leo said as the two of them started walking again. Now there were two red points of flickering light that bounced slightly as they moved.

They rounded the bend that Sam and Donna’s silhouettes had just disappeared around and Leo and Toby stumbled back in surprise when they almost ran over the two of them in the dark. Sam and Donna were standing in the middle of the road watching the scene before them. Leo, being the most jaded of the three, wasn’t all that surprised at what they saw, but Donna, Sam and Toby were all surprised.

“Guys...” Donna began. “This better be it or we’re screwed.”

“Um...Donna...” Sam began. “I hate to say this but if this is it, I think we’re still screwed.”

TBC


	2. The Wizard of West Wing: Chapters 6-10

**********  
Chapter 6

The four of them stood on a crest of a high hill, another thing that didn’t exist in the real version of D.C., and surveyed the circular, shallow valley that was spread out before them.

Although it was almost dark now, a huge moon had risen and between the moonlight and the lights coming from what they were seeing, they could make out the scene pretty clearly. 

Eagle City...or at least what they all assumed was Eagle City.

It was well lit at night. It also looked remarkably like the White House. Or a variation of the buildings on the White House grounds. What looked to be the Mansion, the West Wing and the East Wing were all there in the same positions relative to each other that they were in the real world. 

‘Well,’ Donna thought. ‘Things just get weirder and weirder.’

The big difference was instead of being the three main buildings that comprised the White House grounds they were so familiar with, this version really was a city. A ridiculously enormous city, made up of many smaller individual buildings closely grouped in the shape of each of the regular White House buildings. Even the tops of these smaller buildings were flattened at the top so their roof lines matched the roof line of the real White House. It was like a controlled growth plan run amuck and it vaguely reminded Donna of a display she’d seen once where the White House had been made out of Legos. 

The groups of buildings comprising what they recognized as the Mansion and the West Wing all seemed to glow with an inner fire, almost as if the buildings themselves produced their own luminescence. Even at night, it was brighter and more beautiful than the White House that Donna remembered.

The East Wing, however, was another matter. The buildings that made up this world’s East Wing looked very little like the actual one. The East Wing section here looked almost like a foreboding castle, complete with a cloak of heavy shadows and the lights that they could see on the outside of building or in the windows were dim and flickering.

If Eagle City itself was amazing and wondrous, what completely encircled it was almost...overwhelming.

The city sat dead center in the middle of a maze fashioned out of hedges that looked to be taller than their heads. A maze so big, so immense, that it went on for miles and seemed to fill the remainder of the valley. As it followed the walls of the valley, the outer perimeter of the maze was irregular. Inside the pattern seemed to cover the gamut of geometric shapes: squares, circles, triangles and everything in between. Mixed in with the greenery of the hedges were bursts of a lighter color that Donna assumed were flowers of some kind, but from the low light and their far-away vantage point it was hard to tell exactly what they were.

It was clear that they’d have to find their way through the maze to get to the city.

Hence, Sam’s ‘we’re still screwed’ comment.

“Maybe we should camp here for the night,” Sam suggested. “Then, you know, get a fresh start in the morning.”

Donna considered that. The maze did look kind of scary. From where they were standing she could see that torches has been mounted at regular points throughout the maze and at its entrance. Sam had a point, maybe they should stop and rest for the night. There was no telling how long it would take them to get through the maze. Then again, it was just getting truly dark and she really wanted to get to Eagle City tonight. She also didn’t relish the idea of sleeping on the ground.

“And just where are we supposed to sleep, Sam, in the bushes?” Toby pointed out. “I mean I don’t exactly see a Motel 6 or, you know, a...chair. If there’s any dew, this tin suit is going to rust solid.”

“I didn’t say I’d thought everything out,” Sam replied. “I’m an idea man, not an execution man, it’s what makes me a good speech writer.”

“I think you’re a nut,” Toby replied. 

“Would you two cool it,” Leo growled. “Donna, it’s your dream. What do you want to do?”

“I think we should press on,” Donna said without much hesitation. “I know it would probably be better in the daytime, but I don’t relish the idea of sleeping out in the open where Amy or anyone else could get us and I’d really like to get there as soon as possible.” She glanced at Toby. “I’d be willing to bet they have beds we can sleep in.”

Toby smirked. “Okay, I’m in.”

“Hey, do you think they’d let me have a shower and a change of clothes?” Sam said brightly. “Maybe I could finally get rid of this straw.”

“I don’t see why not,” Donna replied with a smile.

Sam grinned. “Works for me.”

The three of them looked expectantly at Leo again.

“Why do I always feel like the cheese that stood alone when I’m with you guys?” Leo asked. “What...you think I want to sleep on the ground in a lion suit, ‘cause I don’t already have enough thorns and stickers in it already from my earlier stint in the bushes? What are we even talking about this for? Get moving!”

Donna and Sam laughed and Toby smirked, as the four of them turned and headed down the hill into the valley. Even in the low light, the colors here seemed a little more vivid and with it, the shadows a little darker, a little more sinister. Donna began to think her decision not to wait until morning may have been hasty, but there was no turning back now. 

They were close enough now Donna could see that the splotches of color on the hedges that she’d seen from the hill were indeed flowers. Blue roses to be exact. Not the blue roses from ‘real life’ that were more of a pale purple or lavender, but roses of a beautiful vivid sky blue that was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. 

‘Pennsylvania Avenue’ led them down to a wide opening cut in the maze. It was obviously the main entrance. A huge torch had been mounted on each side of the opening. A sign, one they hadn’t been able to see from the top of the hill, was hung next to one of the torches.

“Welcome to Eagle City,” it said. 

And in smaller print... 

“After dark, enter maze at your own risk.”

“Well, that can’t be good,” Sam said.

“It would have been nice if they’d specified just what the so-called risk was,” Toby put in.

The four of them stood there for a moment considering their next move. It wasn’t like they could go back. They had to get to the city and this was the only way to do it. Not to mention that they’d already covered the fact that they didn’t want to try sleeping on the ground or waiting until morning.

Oddly curious, Donna walked over to a clump of roses growing out of the hedge. Even in the minimal light, the blue of them was really very extraordinary and she didn’t even have to lean in to smell the heady fragrance they were producing. She reached out and touched one of them. It was the strangest thing. The petals were soft, supple and shaped like any normal rose, but at her touch, the bloom almost seemed to press itself gently into her hand. 

Dropping her hand, she blinked at the rose. Now it looked just like a normal rose. It must have been the shadows coupled with her imagination. Maybe she was more exhausted than she realized. 

Shaking herself, Donna turned back to the guys. “Maybe the risk is just the fact that it’s easier to get lost in the maze at night. After all, we saw from the hill that they put torches throughout the maze so that must mean that people do go through it after dark,” she reasoned as she smiled at them. “Besides, I have the three of you to protect me.”

“Yeah, but who’s going to protect us?” Sam asked.

“Well, we can’t just stand around all night,” Leo said, putting in his two cents. “We don’t have that kind of time to waste.”

Donna looked at Toby as the voice of logic and reason. “What do you think?”

He shrugged as best he could in his tin suit. “Well, at least we’ll be together so we can watch out for each other,” he said simply.

After a last glance at the dark night sky, the four of them looked at each other for a long moment. Then, with a round of silent nods, they walked into the maze. 

It was quieter and darker inside than they’d expected, almost as if light and sound itself had read the warning sign at the entrance and rebelled at the idea of venturing inside the hedge at night. Even the light from the torches inside the maze seemed to cling tightly to each of the silent flames rather than diffusing the darkness and illuminating their way.

The only thing that did seem to give off some light was the roses. She hadn’t noticed it when they’d been outside the maze, but it was pretty unmistakable now. It was an extremely pale blue light and not remotely enough to light their way; it was more like they simply glowed softly in the dark, punctuating their own existence. Donna supposed that it should have been pretty, but under the circumstances it was just plain creepy. As was the fact that the blooms seemed to track their movements like eyes in a picture.

“Okay, is anyone else getting freaked out by these roses?” Sam said.

“I was just thinking the same thing, Sam,” Donna replied. She was getting a very weird feeling. “Let’s walk a little faster,” she suggested. No one had any objections.

They continued on for quite a while, going straight, curving around, turning, and then doubling back when they hit a dead end. As it turned out, being in the darkened maze was quite disorienting and it was hard to tell if they were making much progress or not. There were no direction signs and very few landmarks. Sam did have an inspired idea to slip a piece of straw through the hedge at each corner or intersection they came to so they could mark where they’d been so they didn’t go in circles.

Sometimes the guys would argue whether or not to turn left or right...to go forward or back. If it hadn’t been so dark and eerie, she would have found their arguing funny, but as it was, she actually said very little after her comment to Sam about walking faster. It wasn’t that she was scared; in fact, so far, there hadn’t been anything to be frightened of, but the simple truth was that the eerie darkness had become fairly oppressive to her, leaving her without much desire to speak. 

She did, however, suddenly wish Josh was there. He always made her feel safe, like he’d know just what to do in any given situation, and while she was very fond of Sam and Toby and even Leo, she missed him.

‘Now would be a perfect time to wake up,’ she thought. She closed her eyes for a moment as Toby, Sam and Leo stood arguing just ahead of her. ‘I’m not afraid, I am not scared, and I WILL wake-up,’ she chanted silently to herself. Keeping her eyes closed, she waited for something to happen, something that would tell her that she was pulling herself out of this dream or hallucination.

Well, something happened, but it wasn’t anything close to what she was expecting.

Donna’s eyes flew open as something brushed her ankle. At first she couldn’t see what it was, but as she stared at her feet in mute horror she realized it was a rose covered vine. It took the feeling of the first vine being joined by more vines, tightening around her legs and the thorns nipping into her skin, to shock her out of her panic and she screamed.

At the sound of her cry, the guys whipped around and rushed back to her. By then, except for her head and neck, Donna was completely entangled in the rose vines. The three of them tugged and pulled and yanked but the vines only continued to tighten around her and draw her back into the hedge. 

The three of them were so intent and trying to get Donna free, they didn’t notice the vines that were rapidly reaching for them as well. Sam noticed first and gave a startled cry as a vine wrapped itself around his waist. Then Leo grunted as one grabbed his ankle and pulled him toward the hedge. Toby, hampered by his tin suit, couldn’t move fast enough to dodge the rose vines that quickly overtaking him. 

Donna struggle, as much to help them as herself, but it was no use. She could still breathe all right, but she couldn’t even move an inch and she was now firmly embedded in the side of the hedge, so much so that her feet didn’t even touch the ground. It occurred to her that maybe, if the attacking roses were one of Amy’s spells she could use her Ruby Goldfish pendant. The problem with that was that her arms were pinned down at her sides so she couldn’t reach it.

In a few minutes, despite their best efforts, Sam, Toby and Leo were just as firmly trapped as she was. There was a round of “Are you okay?” and everyone seemed to be fine, just completely ensnared in the rose vines.

Oddly enough, although Donna could feel a slight prick of the thorns if she struggled too hard, overall it wasn’t painful and definitely wasn’t what she would have expected. Then again, who would have expected this?

They tried calling for help, but no one came and soon their voices were rough and raw and their hope for outside help was all but gone.

At first there was a lot of rustling as they made a few feeble attempts to move. Then a renewed quiet descended on them again as they all contemplated the fact that they were so well and truly trapped and the night felt eerie and more oppressive than ever. Donna could just make out Sam and Toby’s figures in the hedge across from her, but she couldn’t see Leo at all as he was wedged into the hedge beside to her. 

It was Toby’s voice that finally interrupted the quiet. “Well, I guess now we know why the sign said to enter at your own risk.”

Donna couldn’t help but laugh at that, perhaps to keep from crying. But it proved infectious, and they all began to laugh or chuckle at their situation. It didn’t help to free them, but at least the night felt a little less dark and empty.

**********  
Chapter 7

Donna woke slowly and with a severely stiff neck. It took her a couple minutes to overcome the feeling of disorientation. The torches had gone out and the sun hadn’t come up yet, but from the color of the sky it would be making an appearance very soon. 

Despite being wrapped up like rose mummies, at some point during the night, they’d apparently all drifted off to sleep. She could make out Sam and Toby’s figures a bit more clearly now and they both seemed to be asleep. From the purring snore she heard off to her right, she assumed Leo was, too. Unlike Donna’s head and neck, which were free, she could see now that both Toby and Sam’s foreheads were each encircled with one vine, while another vine went under their chins like a strap to hold them perfectly still without strangling them.

In the ever increasing daylight, the roses had less of a glow-in-the-dark look and she could see that they were really a very beautiful blue. The rose vines were also still very tightly wrapped around each of them, holding them to their places in the hedge.

The rustle of her struggle against her living bonds must have been enough to wake the others because they began to stir.

Sam jerked awake. “Orange County beaches are a national treasure,” he said with a snort.

“Shut up, Sam,” Toby grumbled.

“Sorry,” Sam murmured groggily as he tried to move, then he remembered their situation. “Oh, man, I was hoping it was all some kind of bad dream.”

“Well, Sam, I guess you’re not far off,” Donna said. “According to you guys, it’s MY bad dream.”

Sam grimaced a little as he tried to test the vines and found them holding as strong as ever. “Right.”

“But never in my wildest, well, dreams, would I have thought up attacking roses,” Donna told them.

“Sounds like a movie or something,” Sam said with a hiss as a thorn bit into his arm. “Instead of ‘Attack of the Killer Tomatoes’ it could be ‘Attack of the Killer Roses.’”

“If you don’t stop talking it’s going to be ‘Attack of the Killer Guy in the Tin Suit,” Toby groused.

“I’m just trying to point out an upside,” Sam said, casting his eye in Toby’s direction.

“And I’m just trying to point out that I’m going to kill you.”

“Will you two SHUT UP!” Leo snapped. “I’ve just spent the night wrapped in vines and a lion coat, I haven’t had any coffee and I don’t even have Margaret to take it out on!!! So, for the love of mud, would you please button it before I have to kill both of you??!!!”

There was a long pause, then Sam’s voice broke the silence.

“Actually, Leo, right now you, and Toby for that matter, are really in no position to be much of a threat to anyone,” he pointed out.

Leo glared at him. “Sam, do you really want to take that chance?”

Sam visibly swallowed. “No...no I can’t say that I do.”

Despite all their blustering, Donna couldn’t help but smile softly. There were never three more unlikely protectors than these three. “Are you guys all okay?” she asked. 

“I’m a little stiff, but other than that, I’m fine,” Sam answered.

“Same here,” Toby put in.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Leo grumbled.

“What do you think we should do now?” Sam asked.

“Well, Sam, why don’t get out the cards and play poker? Or better yet, bridge, after all we’ve got 4 people here,” Leo suggested sarcastically.

“Oh, Leo, give him a break, it’s a fair question,” Donna said. “I think we’d better try calling for help again. Maybe now that it’s morning, or almost morning, someone will hear us.”

“Well, being trussed up like we are, I guess calling for help is about all we can do right now,” Leo conceded.

So, after a round of throat clearing, they began calling for help again. 

“Hey! Wait, listen....I think I hear something!” Donna exclaimed suddenly.

“I’m coming! Keep your pantyhose on!” came a disembodied reply.

“Was that CJ?” Toby asked.

Suddenly there was an enormous crack and a flash and CJ appeared next to Donna.

“Of course, it’s me, you idiots,” CJ told the guys as she glared at them. “Is this how you help protect Donna? I swear I would have had better results if I’d put Moe, Larry and Curly on the job!” Looking at Donna, she softened her expression. “Hi, Donna, my darling. It looks like you and the idiot boys here have gotten yourself in trouble.”

“Yes, it does seem that way, doesn’t it?” Donna said. Then, as she really took notice of how CJ looked in the early morning light, she frowned. “Um, CJ...”

Toby finished the comment before Donna could. “CJ, what the hell happened to you?“

“What?” CJ replied. With a blink, her wand turned into a hand mirror and she looked at her reflection. The problem was quickly apparent.

Rather than the neat and tidy appearance she’d had yesterday, CJ looked like a woman who had been well and truly loved. Her hair was wild and loose, her tiara askew, her lipstick smeared, her dress only half-zipped and sliding off one shoulder, and she was missing her shoes. 

Instead of being embarrassed, CJ grinned like an idiot. “Oh, well I sort of...I had a long night.”

“Is that what took you so long to get here?” Toby demanded. “We’re spending the night in a bad horror movie and you’re getting lucky with Danny Concannon?!!!”

CJ glared at him. “Yes, Toby, after 6 years of many sleepless and mostly sexless nights, I decided to take this opportunity to get my groove back! And if you have a problem with that, then you can just stay tangled up in these roses until someone else comes along, because I’ve definitely got somewhere better I could be.”

Toby remained prudently silent.

“Um, just for the record, CJ, I’m happy that you’re here,” Sam put in.

“Suck up,” Toby muttered.

“Enough!!!!” Leo yelled. “CJ...a little help here, please.”

“Sure thing,” CJ said. “Just give me one second.”

With a nod, she turned the hand mirror back into a wand and carefully waved it at herself. Instantly her appearance was neat and tidy once again. Then she nodded again and the wand became a pair of shiny pruning shears and a set of silver gardening gloves. 

“Let’s get you out of there first, Donna,” CJ said as she started cutting away the vines at Donna’s feet.

“Is just cutting them away going to be enough, CJ?” Donna asked. “I mean, won’t they just grab me again?”

“No. They might move a little, but they’re pretty much done for the night,” CJ replied.

“What do you mean?” Donna said with a frown.

“Well, from sunrise to sundown, they’re pretty much just regular roses,” CJ explained. “But that witch Amy put a curse on them so at night they serve as a sentry to try and keep anyone from getting into the city. Unfortunately, whatever position they contort into at night becomes permanent during the day, which is why you’re still stuck.”

“Why would she just put the spell on them at night?” Sam asked, watching as CJ continued cutting Donna out of the hedge. 

“It’s not a night-specific spell, it’s just that it works better at night because that’s when Amy’s power is strongest, just like my powers are strongest during the day. But around sunset and sunrise, we’re both kind of at half power, which is also why it took me a little while to get here.”

“But why didn’t the roses just strangle or kill us?” Donna peered down as CJ continued her cutting. “Why just trap us?”

“Because it’s how she gets new prisoners and slaves. Killing the victims would kind of defeat the purpose.”

“Like a spider in a web?” Sam suggested.

“Exactly.” She cut away the last vine and caught Donna as she stumbled out of the hedge. “In the couple of hours before sunrise, Amy patrols the maze looking for anyone that was unlucky enough to get trapped in the roses.”

“So why didn’t she come and get us?” Sam asked as CJ started cutting Leo out of the hedge as Donna stretched her stiff muscles and joints.

CJ grinned widely. “Because I thought this might happen and I sent her a distraction last night.”

“I thought you said your power wasn’t very strong at night?” Sam asked. “How did you conjure up a distraction?”

“I set it up before the sun went down,” she explained as she worked to free Leo. “Once I set it in motion, the magic has to run it’s course.”

“What was the distraction?” Donna asked.

“Josh.”

“JOSH!!!” Donna screeched. “You gave her, Josh!!! CJ, how could you!?”

CJ turned away from Leo and looked at Donna sympathetically. “Don’t worry, my darling, I didn’t.”

“But you said...”

“It was a clone of Josh,” CJ explained. “A fake.”

“A fake? You can do that?” Donna didn’t think she even liked the idea of a CLONE Josh being with Amy.

CJ nodded, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “In fact,” she said, looking at the delicate silver watch on her wrist. “I set him to disappear right...about...”

“ARRRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!!!” Amy’s sudden, deafening scream tore through the valley.

“...now,” CJ said with a smug grin as the first piece of sun crept over the horizon and spilled over the valley. “Don’t worry, now that the sun’s up she can’t hurt you here. Of course, I imagine she’s pretty pissed now, so tonight when she gets her powers back, I’d stay as far away from her as possible.”

“Good safety tip,” Donna replied.

“It’s all part of the service here at CJ’s House of Magic Gardening,” she said with a grin. With that, CJ turned back to Leo and finished cutting through the last few vines binding him to the hedge.

CJ stood in the center of the path and stretched in the sunrise. “Ah, very nice, my powers return to full force with the sun,” she sighed happily. “Better than any latte I’ve ever had for recharging my magic batteries.”

“CJ?”

“Yes, Donna, my dear?” she asked as the moved to cut Sam from his rose prison.

“I was wondering, could my pendant have helped get us out of the roses last night?”

“Yes, indeed,” CJ answered. “If you’d touched the vines around you or around the guys with it, they would have retreated. But since your hands were trapped down at your sides, you were out of luck. And since the roses are just regular roses during the day, it wouldn’t have helped you free yourself this morning either.” She grunted as she pulled at some of the vines around Sam. “Your pendant is also the reason that your head was left free of the vines. They wouldn’t go past the pendant.”

“I wondered about that,” Donna replied. 

As the sun rose, Donna could see that the color of CJ’s blue gown exactly matched the blue of the roses. “CJ, did you make the roses? I mean originally?” Donna asked.

“No, they’ve been here almost as long as Eagle City,” she said, snipping through the vines encasing Sam’s chest. “Why do you ask?”

“I just noticed that the roses match the blue in your dress.”

“Oh, that. Well, my powers and the roses are both good things, both are part of the pure magic that lies at the heart of this place and its people.” 

“So the color’s a symbol, then,” Donna said. “A sign of good magic.”

“You got it. And how pathetic are evil roses?” CJ said. “I mean leave it to Amy to pervert something so beautiful.” She gave a yank on the last of Sam’s bonds and suddenly he was free. Just like he’d done when Donna had freed him from the sign, Sam hadn’t been expecting it and tumbled face first to the ground.

“Sorry about that, Sam,” CJ said as she stepped over him.

“Okay, just for the record, I’m getting REALLY tired of that,” he said, spitting out some dirt. Donna and Leo helped him up and Donna helped him brush himself off as CJ moved to Toby and started on his bonds. Shortly everyone was free and standing in the early morning sunshine.

“Well, now that you’re all free I’ve got to go,” CJ said, turning the shears and gloves back into her wand.

“Wait!” Donna said. “Can you help us find our way through the maze?”

“Or better yet, can’t you just blink us into Eagle City?” Toby asked.

“Toby, do I look like Barbara Eden?” CJ replied sarcastically. “No, I can’t just BLINK you there.”

“Wait, don’t tell me...going through the maze is part of my journey thing, right?” Donna asked in frustration.

“I’m afraid so.”

“CJ...” Donna whined. “We’re tired, smelly, scratched up, and we need to get there before it gets dark again.”

“Okay, okay,” CJ conceded. “I shouldn’t be doing this, but I think I have something that will make it go faster for you.” Snapping her fingers, something appeared in CJ’s hand. “Here you go.”

Donna took it from her. “A brochure of the White House Rose Garden?” she asked with a surprised frown. 

“What? You were expecting the secret to the universe?” CJ asked with a shrug. 

“But how does that help us?” Donna asked. “We’re not even IN the White House Rose Garden.”

“Yes, but eventually we’ll all wake up and it wouldn’t hurt to know more about the place you’ve worked in for 6 years,” CJ said. At her dubious look, CJ laid her hand on Donna’s shoulder. “My Darling, things aren’t always what they seem, so don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” she added cryptically. “Well, troops, Danny’s making me breakfast, so I’m off...”

“I always thought you were a little off,” Toby muttered.

“You know, Toby, I wouldn’t have any trouble putting you back in the hedge.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”

“You’re forgiven,” she replied. “Okay, see you guys later.” With that, she waved her wand and vanished.

“Well, now what?” Sam asked.

“I guess we just press on,” Donna suggested. 

“Let’s get the show on the road then. I’ve got things to do!” Leo replied like a broken record. 

The four of them started walking in the same direction they’d been headed in when they’d been attacked by the roses. 

The maze was a completely different experience during the day. The roses were an amazing blue that was welcoming instead of eerie. There were even birds that flew overhead and perched on the top of the hedges and a light, refreshing breeze blew through the twisting turning paths.

As they continued to walk, Donna remembered CJ’s words about things not always being what they seem, so out of sheer curiosity, she pulled out the brochure and started looking through it. If nothing else it would help her pass the time.

“Oh, my gosh!” she said, coming to a sudden and complete stop. Because the guys were following her lead, they nearly piled into her. 

“What’s the matter?!” Leo said. “Why are we stopping? We have to keep going!”

“Thank you, CJ!!!” Donna yelled with a laugh.

“What?” Sam asked as they crowded around her.

“Look what I found in the middle of the brochure,” she said holding it up for them. There, taped smack in the middle of the brochure, was the answer to all their problems. 

A detailed map of the maze...including how to get through it.

With renewed energy and excitement, they followed the map and very shortly, they found themselves standing at the exit to the maze. Before them was a large, beautifully detailed wrought iron gate that lead into the heart of Eagle City.

Their happiness at escaping the maze and finding the city was tempered by one very discouraging fact...

The gate was locked.

**********  
Chapter 8

Josh laughed as he walked through the Northwest Lobby of the White House with Sam. "I can't believe you didn't hit on her," he teased. "She was hot and she was giving you the eye."

Sam shrugged. "Well, after Laurie, I gave up on the idea of picking up women in bars."

"They're not all going to be call girls, Sam," Josh pointed out as they stopped so Sam could sign in at security.

"Yeah, but given my track record, I'll somehow manage to only find the ones that are."

After a beer or two, Josh was feeling loose and relaxed. "Sam, you know what we need to do? We need to work on getting your mojo back," he said clapping him on the back.

"My mojo?" Sam said. "Since when did we fall into an Austin Powers movie?"

"Well, you do have a freakish resemblance to the one guy who plays Number 2," Josh teased as they walked into the Operations bullpen.

"Speaking of hot women, where's Donna?" Sam asked him when they saw her empty desk. "I wanted to say hi to her."

"I don't know where she is, I thought she'd be here too. She said she was going to wait until we got back." He pulled open one of her desk drawers. "Her purse is still here so I'm sure she'll turn up in a few minutes." 

Turning away from Donna’s desk, he gave Sam a dirty look. "And don't call her hot, only I'm allowed to call her hot."

Sam blinked at him. "When have you ever called her hot?"

"I just did," Josh said as he walked into his office and flipped on the light.

"But have you ever called her that to her face?"

"Yeah, Sam, cause I want to get slapped or in some way punished by her."

"Fair point," he said dropping into one of Josh's visitor chairs. "So how's Amy?"

Josh shot Sam a look as he sat down in his desk chair. "How should I know?" he said a little defensively. 

"Well, since she's working as Mrs. Bartlet's chief of staff, I'm assuming you have to work with her on a fairly regular basis now."

"How did you know she was staffing Mrs. Bartlet?" Josh asked.

Josh knew most people in the country had no idea who the first lady's COS was, especially those on the other side of the country in California. 

"I'm an informed guy, Josh."

Josh gave him a look. "Donna told you, didn't she?"

Sam grinned. "It may have come up in passing when she called me last week.” 

“Last week?” Josh asked. “Just how often do you talk to her?”

Sam shifted a bit uncomfortably in his seat. “Now and then,” he said vaguely. ‘Usually when she wants to talk to someone about you,’ he added silently.

Although he’d had to coax it out of her in the beginning, ever since Sam had stayed in California, Donna had been confiding in him more and more about her feelings of wanting more, both from Josh and her job. Sam supposed she felt safe in doing so because he was no longer part of the Washington political scene. She’s also made him promise she wouldn’t tell Josh what they talked about.

Josh cocked his head at Sam. “Just out of curiosity, what did she say about Amy?” 

“Nothing,” Sam said a little too quickly. “Only that she was working for Mrs. Bartlet now and it was probably going to cause headaches for the rest of you.”

"You know, I never did figured out why Donna didn't like Amy.”

“Yeah, it is a mystery,” Sam said keeping his voice neutral. He, and he suspected pretty much everyone who’d ever worked with the two of them, knew exactly why Donna didn’t like Amy. 

If Josh read anything into his words, he didn’t show it. "Anyway, Amy’s as annoying as ever. She usually shows up at just the wrong moment and gets in my face over something that I could care less about.”

“So no Amy part two?” Sam said fishing a little. From their conversations, he knew Donna was really worried about just such a scenario.

"What?" Josh said apparently taken aback by the idea. "No, why would you say..."

He broke off when Ed and Larry appeared in the doorway. “Hey, Josh...Sam!” They both said, happy to see the prodigal son return to the fold, even if it was only temporarily.

“Hey, guys,” Sam greeted with grin.

“Here’s the research you wanted for the VP vetting, Josh,” Ed said indicating a thick stack of folders that Larry was setting on Josh’s desk. 

“Thanks.” 

“So it looks like you guys survived a night of drunken revelry,” Larry joked. “I guess Donna won’t need that bail money for you two after all.”

“Not this time anyway,” Josh said with a grin. “But Sam’s going to be here for two more days and we’re going to work on getting his mojo back, so you never know.”

“Okay, you really need to stop talking about my mojo,” Sam groaned. “It’s starting to creep me out.”

Ed and Larry laughed at that. “Well, we’re going to head out, but we wanted to drop those files off for you. Good to see you, Sam.”

“Good to see you guys too,” Sam replied as they headed for the door. 

Josh stopped them. “Oh, say, do you guys know where Donna is?” 

“No, not since we talked to her a couple of hours ago,” Ed told him.

“Wait...” Larry said. “...you know I did see her after that. When I was coming back from the mess. She was heading toward the basement file room."

“Okay, thanks guys,” Josh said. He looked back at Sam as Ed and Larry walked out. “She’s probably just down there pulling files for me.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I swear, Sam, the VP selection process is going to kill me. It’s worse than filling a supreme court seat.” 

“I can imagine,” Sam answered. “And I don’t feel guilty in saying I’m glad I’m not here to deal with it.” 

“Thanks for the sympathy, Sam.” Josh looked at his watch. “Well, we can give Donna few more minutes to turn up and we’ll then go down to the file room and harass her.”

**********  
Back in the rose hedge maze, Donna, Toby, Sam and Leo stood in front of the gate trying to decide what to do when Sam sighed. “Okay, I hate to sound like a broken record...”

“Too late,” Toby snarked.

“Toby...” Leo growled in warning.

Sam just sent him a dirty look. “...what do we do now?”

Donna rattled the gate and it was indeed well and truly locked. Just in case it might help, she pressed her pendant against the gate’s latch, but nothing happened. 

“Well, it was worth a shot,” she said with a shrug. Then her eyes narrowed. “Hey, wait a minute…does that look like a button to anyone else?”

The four of them gathered around the area Donna was pointing at. It was really only a small round metal disk, the same color and material as the rest of the gate, but the shape stuck out just enough to be promising.

“You know I think it is,” Sam agreed. “Should I try pushing it?”

“Why not?” Donna replied. “At this point, what have we got to lose?” 

“Well, I could lose a finger or be electrocuted or maybe it’s not a button and I’ll be humiliated,” Sam pointed out. 

“I think you crossed that bridge a long time ago,” Toby told him.

“Oh, would one of you just push the damn button already!” Leo blustered.

“Okay, okay,” Sam said jabbing the button.

They all waited expectantly...and absolutely nothing happened.

While the button did appear to depress, they didn’t hear the sound of a bell or chime or anything else that they expected to indicate that their efforts were actually producing any results. 

“Well, that was anti-climatic,” Toby said. “Are you sure you did it right?”

“It’s a button, Toby,” Sam shot back. “I pushed it...what more should I have done?”

“I don’t know, maybe you didn’t push it hard enough,” Toby suggested. “Let me try.”

Donna watched Toby press the button repeatedly. “This reminds me of when Josh and I go somewhere and we’re at a crosswalk. No matter how many times I’ve already pressed the button for the crosswalk light, he still has to press it and usually keeps on pressing it the whole time we’re standing there. Of course, it never makes the light change any faster, but he still has to do it.”

“Personally, I don’t think those crosswalk button do anything,” Sam jumped in as they watched Toby continue to press the button. “I think they're a conspiracy by someone in the CIA or Health and Human Services to see how people react to stuff. You know, like some kind of human variation of Pavlov’s dog.” 

“Oh, God, we’re never getting out of here!” Leo erupted, throwing up his hands. “While you guys are talking about buttons and conspiracies, the work is piling up on my desk and I’m never going to get back to my office. The country is going to slowly go to hell in a hand cart while I die of old age wearing this stupid lion coat with only you three idiots for company!” 

As if his ranting had done some good a small panel in the enormous door opened and someone looked out. "Could you please STOP ringing that bell?” someone said primly.

Toby immediately stopped pressing the button and the four of them looked up to see who was speaking to them. 

"Is that...?" Sam began.

"Delores Landingham," Toby supplied absently.

"Okay, so I'm not imaging things," Sam said.

Toby took a puff on his cigar. "No more than usual."

Leo shot them both a look. "Shut up, Toby."

Donna’s heart gave a little lurch at the sight of Mrs. Landingham. She’d liked and respected the woman a great deal and had been shaken by her untimely death. 

"Well, I don't have all day," Mrs. Landingham said impatiently. "I've got cookies in the oven that are ready to come out. What can I do for you?" 

"We're here to see the Wizard," Donna said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to come back during visiting hours."

"What visiting hours?" Donna asked. 

"The ones posted on the sign," she told them.

The four of them looked around for it. "What sign?!" Sam asked.

Without another word, Mrs. Landingham's head disappeared back inside and the panel closed. 

Toby chewed on his cigar. "Now you've done it, Sam."

"What did I do?" Sam replied. "I just asked her a simple question."

A moment later, the large white door opened. Two marines in full dress uniform and looking about 8 feet tall held the doors open as the diminutive Mrs. Landingham walked out between them. She hurried over to her side of the gate and drawing out a key, she slid it into a lock, and turned it. The heavy-looking gate was remarkably silent as she drew it open. Stepping outside, she stood next to them and looked toward a blank spot on the fence.

"Oh dear, she did it again," Mrs. Landingham said. 

“Did what?” Toby asked.

“Stole the Eagle City entrance sign. Usually it’s hanging right there. The signs lists the Wizard’s visiting hours and tells visitors to ring the bell..." she gave Toby a pointed look. “...only once.”

“Sorry,” Toby mumbled in apology.

“Well, I guess you’d better come inside,” she said ushering them through the gate. Once they were all inside, Mrs. Landingham locked the gate and brushed off her hands. “Well, the Wizard isn’t going to like this one bit.”

“Isn’t going to like what?” Donna said, hoping she wasn’t referring to their visit.

“The missing sign,” she explained. “Signs don’t grow on trees and he’s going to have to pay for a new one. That always puts him in a bad mood.”

"Who would want to take the sign?" Sam asked.

"That awful witch, Amy,” Mrs. Landingham clarified. “She keeps taking it. This will be the fourth sign we’ve had to replace.”

"Why would she do that?" Donna asked.

"She's trying to keep away the visitors who want to get into the city or see the Wizard. If you miss this entrance to the city and go down farther you wind up at the gate to her domain in the east wing." she pursed her lips slightly. "And believe me, it’s not a place you want to be."

Toby flicked some ashes off his cigar. "Can't you arrest her for theft or vandalism?" 

"We tried that once and she organized the prisoners into her slaves. Eventually the Wizard was forced to banish her and her slaves to the East Wing." 

“So is the gate usually locked?” Sam asked. 

She nodded. “Yes, security is very important here in Eagle City. We only open it to let in approved visitors and then relock it once they’re inside.”

“We’re approved visitors?” Sam asked. “How did you know we were coming?”

“The nice Claudia Jean said you’d be coming,” she explained. “Actually I expected you yesterday, but I guess you had some trouble with the maze.”

“Understatement of the century,” Leo grumbled as they walked inside the building.

“All that locking and unlocking of the gate seems like a lot of trouble,” Sam observed as the marines closed the doors behind them. 

“Well, we don’t take any chances where the witch is concerned,” Mrs. Landingham told them. “She could wreck havoc if she got into the city and the Wizard wouldn’t like that at all, so we keep the gate locked.”

She led them down a long carpeted hallway that looked like it indeed came right out of the real White House, completed with a red carpet runner and beautiful antiques set strategically along each wall. As they walked, they passed a number of doors, most of which were closed. Of those that were open, Donna had half expected to see other dimensions or fanciful worlds and she was a tiny bit disappointed to only see what appeared to be regular people working at various jobs. 

“Speaking of the Wizard, when can we see him?” Donna asked, trying to steer the conversation back to more productive ground.

“As I told you, dear, you can only see him during visiting hours.”

“Okay, so when are visiting hours?” Toby tried.

“Every day from noon to three.”

“So we can see him this afternoon?” Donna hedged.

“No, I’m sorry, he’s gone today,” she said, brushing at some flour on her shirt. “Which is why I was trying to get some baking done. The Wizard loves my cookies.”

Donna’s heart sank. She was never getting out this nightmare. “When will he be back?”

“Tomorrow.”

“So we can see him tomorrow?” Toby said, as Mrs. Landingham turned and led them into an office that looked remarkably like the waiting area for the Oval Office. The only difference was there was a small kitchen off to one side and the smell of vanilla, warm sugar and baking cookies filled the air.

Mrs. Landingham stopped by her desk and gave them another assessing stare. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Why not?!” It was Leo this time and from his tone, he was getting very frustrated.

As usual, the older woman was unruffled by his gruff tone. “Well, I hate to tell you this but the four of you are a mess. You certainly can’t meet with him in the condition you’re in.” 

The four of them looked at each other and realized they did look a little worse for wear. Dusty, dirty, sweaty, and bits of the rose hedge were still clinging to their clothes, their hair, and Leo's coat. 

“Is there somewhere in the city where we can get cleaned up and get a good night’s sleep while we wait for him?” Donna asked.

She nodded. “Yes, of course. The city has an excellent spa and a small hotel for visitors.”

"So after we get cleaned up we can see him?" Donna asked. “Tomorrow, I mean?”

Sitting down at her desk, Mrs. Landingham pursed her lips as she looked through a large leather bound desk calendar and considered Donna’s request. 

"I don’t know…his schedule is very tight tomorrow, and I have to keep him on track.” She looked up at them. “Being gone today has already put him behind and even on a good day, he can get distracted so easily it throws the whole schedule off.”

“Please,” Donna pleaded. “It’s very important that we talk to him.”

Mrs. Landingham gave her a motherly smile and looked back down at the book. “Well…he did have one cancellation so I think I might be able to squeeze you in.” She looked up at them. “He doesn’t have time for four separate appointments though, so you’ll have to meet with him all at the same time.” 

Donna glanced at her companions and then back at Mrs. Landingham. “That won’t be a problem.”

“Good,” she made a notation in the book. “Be here at 2 o’clock tomorrow and don’t be late or I won’t be able to let you in,” she stressed. “In the mean time, one of the guards will show you where you can get cleaned up.”

She motioned to one of the impossibly tall marines who had opened the doors for them earlier and he stepped forward. “Take our visitors over to the hotel and see that they’re given rooms.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guard replied as he turned, in perfect military fashion, and marched toward the hall.

Sam, Toby, and Leo automatically followed him, but Donna found herself all but rooted to the floor in front of Mrs. Landingham’s desk.

“Was there something else, dear?” she asked kindly.

Donna was surprised and a little mortified to feel tears welling in her eyes. While she knew that this Mrs. Landingham was not the one she knew…not the one who had died in a terrible car accident, seeing her still caused an odd ache in her chest.

“It’s just…” She took a breath. “It’s good to see you, Mrs. Landingham. I’ve missed you.”

“What a sweet thing to say,” she said, and lifting the lid on a crystal jar on her desk she smiled softly. “Here, have a cookie.” 

**********  
Chapter 9

Donna turned over and stared up at the ceiling. It was so strange. She felt completely relaxed, but she couldn't sleep and didn't feel tired. The four of them were currently occupying an opulent three room suite at the Eagle City Resort and Spa. They had been scrubbed, buffed and polished until Donna was surprised they had any skin left.

Of course, the staff hadn't been able to do anything about Toby's metal suit except polish it and they hadn't had any more luck getting Leo's lion coat off than she'd had so they'd steamed cleaned it with him in it. On the upside, they'd apparently been able to get rid of the straw from under Sam's clothes and out of his various bodily orifices. He'd come out of the treatment walking a little funny, but he'd proclaimed that it had been worth it have that damned straw gone.

Since it was clear that sleep was not going to happen for her, she threw back the covers and sat up. Running her hands over the nightgown the spa had provided her, she still marveled at it's texture. It was unlike anything she'd ever worn before. The material was a shimmering silver, butter soft, and as she stood, it slid down over her body like a caress. With a little sigh, she pulled on a robe of the same material and slid her feet into a pair of matching slippers that had been placed by her bed. 

She had to admit, she was actually enjoying this part of her dream or hallucination...whatever. It was kind of a spa day run amuck and the best part was it hadn't cost her anything. Apparently, when her brain had been concocting this scenario, it had the bright idea to make money a moot point.

Walking through the suite, she checked on her three companions. They all appeared to be sleeping peacefully. She had to smile when she heard Sam mumbling about Orange county beaches in his sleep.

Needing to walk, she slipped out of the suite and made her way to the wide spacious lobby, which in this place looked very much like the Northwest Lobby in the real White House. No one appeared to stop or question her and the lone desk clerk behind the check-in desk only nodded in greeting as she walked past. Her slippers made no noise on the cool marble tile as she moved toward the entrance.

Her plan had only been to walk to the entrance and look out through the glass doors, but when she neared it, the tall marines silently opened the double doors for her. Hesitantly, she lingered in the doorway. Normally, she never would have considered wandering around outside in her robe and slippers, by herself in the middle in the night. But the robe she was wearing went all the way to her ankles and was more of a gown than a standard robe. And it be honest, there was something about this place that felt safe.

With a little shrug, she walked outside. With the way the buildings were grouped together, it looked a little like walking through some old European town. The white marble buildings ran along narrow streets that were paved with cobblestones and lined with flower boxes filled with more blue roses. But as these didn't try to reach out and grab her, she assumed they weren't under the same spell as those in the hedge maze.

Outside of the occasional huge marine guard stationed at various doors she passed, there was literally no one else out walking but her. The isolation served to make her thoughtful and her mind tried to work on how she was supposed to get out of this mess, but things seemed so jumbled up in her mind it was hard to sort it out. She wished suddenly that Josh was there. She knew he'd help her work it out.

Of course that thought lead to another more troublesome one. What she dreaded even more than being in this place, was what she was going to have to deal with when she finally did wake up. If Amy made good on her threats and Josh lost his mind and went back to her, Donna didn't know what she'd do. And what if Amy told him what they talked about? What if she told Josh she suspected that Donna was in love with him?

Donna sucked in a breath as a searing pain shot through her head and drove out the ability to think at all. It felt like a spike was going right through the right side of her forehead. Her knees felt weak and she groped for something to hold onto. Through the haze of the nearly blinding pain, she saw a bench nearby and she dropped down on it and gripped her head in her hands.

Squeezing her head, she tried to press away the pain which didn't help much at all. So she concentrated on just trying to breathe. Slowly, very slowly, the pain began to recede until her forehead was only throbbing slightly with each beat of her heart.

Letting out a long breath, she sat back on bench and rubbed at the spot. Wondering if her legs were strong enough to support her if she tried to stand, she looked around.

And frowned as she saw CJ enter the courtyard in front of her. At least she thought it was CJ. She had traded the fancy blue gown for jeans and a flowing blue shirt, but from what Donna could see she was still wearing her tiara and the delicate silver sandals she'd had on earlier. 

As Donna watched, CJ hurried across the courtyard like a woman on a mission and without so much as looking in Donna's direction, disappeared through a door into a small non-descript building.

Feeling steadier now and very curious, Donna eased herself up from the bench and after making sure that the pain wasn't going to come back and that her legs would carry her, she walked over to the door CJ had gone through.

She expected it to be locked, but when she tried it the knob turned easily in her hand and she pulled open the door. 

Inside, the small white room was simple and almost medicinal in it's spartan-like quality. A white u-shaped desk sat in the middle of the room and beyond it were two plain doors. One was marked "Decontamination" and other "Observation." The only two things that kept the room from being cold was the thick, dusty blue carpet covering the floor and a profusion of potted orchids covering about half the desk. They were blue, of course, this place seemed to have a thing for the color blue. 

"Dropping off or picking up?" a voice said.

Donna startled at the sound and looked again at the desk, which she could have sworn was empty a moment before, but was now occupied by Debbie Fiderer.

Donna shook herself. "What?"

"Are you dropping off or picking up?" she said patiently as she wielded her spray bottle over the orchids. 

"Um...neither. I'm looking for CJ," Donna said, still feeling disoriented. "I thought I saw her come in here."

"Oh, yes she did," Debbie said. "She's in observation with a patient."

Donna frowned. "A patient? Is this a hospital?"

Debbie smiled indulgently. "Not exactly. We're more like...a cleaning and restoration service."

That didn't clear it up at all, but she nodded and pretended it did. She'd just ask CJ to explain it further. "Do you think I could see her...CJ, I mean?"

"Yes, just go right through that door," she said pointing to the one marked 'Observation.' "You should find her right inside."

"Thank you," Donna said with a nod as she went to the door and opened it.

She had no idea what to expect, but what she found was more than she could have imagined. It started simply enough. The door opened on a very long corridor that ran almost as far as she could see. The same thick blue carpet that she'd seen in the outer office covered the floor here too.

But it was the walls that got her attention here. Where the ceiling and the right hand side of the corridor were smooth and painted...yes, as expected, a soft, soothing blue, the left hand side was exclusively made of glass. Floor to ceiling glass, like enormous windows. The corridor itself didn't appear to have it's own source of lighting and got it's light from what lay beyond the glass. 

Stepping into the corridor, Donna closed the door behind her and saw CJ standing a little ways down from her looking through one windows, her expression contemplative. As she walked toward CJ, Donna realized that the wall of glass overlooked a series of plain white rooms.

Still not understanding the exact purpose of this place, she hoped CJ would be able to explain it and she picked up her pace.

"CJ?"

CJ turned toward her. "Donna, what are you doing here?" she asked with surprise clearly written on her face.

"I was out taking a walk. I saw you come in here and so I followed you," she said. "CJ what is this place?"

CJ looked a little unsure. "Um...it's kind of hard to explain."

For the first time, Donna looked into the room they were standing in front of.

And gasped.

"Josh?" she said in surprised amazement. 

"Well, almost. It's his clone," CJ explained. "The one I sent to distract Amy last night. But he's basically an exact replica."

Unable to tear her eyes from the sight of him, Donna found she couldn't swallow and had no spit in her mouth. Small vents were set into the floor and a thin layer of steam surrounded him. Eyes closed in apparent meditation, he was seating cross-legged in the middle of the floor and as far as Donna could tell he was naked except for a narrow towel drawn across his hips. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, despite the smallness of the towel and his position he was sitting in, what was under the towel was cloaked in shadow.

For Donna, the hiding of his...assets was a keen disappointment, but it didn't keep her from ogling the rest of him. His hair was damp and his skin was sweaty and glistening. It showcased nearly every bump and bulge of muscle on his body. She'd always thought that he...the real Josh she had to keep reminding herself...had the most amazing arms and chest. Pretty amazing given the lack of exercise he got. The clone even bore the same scars on his chest that the real Josh did, although she knew logically a clone wouldn't have such a feature as it wasn't tied to his DNA.

Not taking her eyes off of CloneJosh, Donna forced herself to speak. "What's he doing?"

"Decontaminating. It's what we have him do after each encounter with Amy."

"You mean he's had to deal with her before?" Donna asked. 

"Yes, we send him out any time we need her out of commission," CJ said. "We keep waiting for her to figure out that he's a clone, but she hasn't caught on yet."

"I had no idea," Donna said. For some reason, she'd thought that CJ had just conjured him out of thin air for last night and then un-conjured him this morning.

"He's...a tool," CJ tried to explain. "Dealing with her is his purpose. It's the reason we created him."

"And he doesn't mind...dealing with her?" She couldn't bring herself to say 'having sex with Amy.'

CJ shrugged. "Not really. We actually built this place for him so he can sort of...decompress after each encounter with her. Part of the decontamination process is to wipe his memory after each time. It keeps him in much better shape that way." 

"What do you do with him between...missions?" 

"We put him into a kind of suspension. Basically, he sleeps."

Before Donna could say anything more, CloneJosh opened his eyes and stood up. As they both watched, he began stretching and contorting his body into various poses.

Donna turned her head sideways to follow his movements. "What's he doing now?"

"Yoga," CJ said. "He always does yoga, it's part of the decompression routine we put him through. Helps cleans the mind and body."

"Can he see us?" Donna asked.

"No, the glass is one way. We put this observation area in so he could be monitored during the decontamination process and we know when he's done," CJ explained.

"But he knows it's here, right?"

She shook her head. "No, we thought it was better that way. But it's not like we sell tickets for people to ogle him," CJ added quickly, then smiled. "Of course, I've had offers...bribes even. Even for a clone, most of the women of Eagle City think he's quite a catch...he's even got a fan club." 

"Sounds familiar," Donna murmured and it only made her miss the real Josh even more. "But why...oh, my God he's...flexible," Donna said almost reverently.

CJ gave a little laugh. "I know, it's kind of freaky."

Donna suddenly felt her face flush and it felt like the temperature in the corridor went up a number of degrees. "Actually, it's kind of hot."

CJ rubbed her eyes. "Don't say things like that, or I'll have to get out the mind bleach."

Donna felt her breath quicken CloneJosh bent over with his back to them and pressed his hands to the floor. Although it stopped a whisker away from revealing his...package...the tightly wrapped towel outlined his perfect butt. A line of sweat began to form between Donna's breasts, while other forms of moisture gathered lower and deeper in her body. It was so easy to forget he wasn't HER Josh, except maybe when he looked in their direction. When she looked closely at his eyes, she knew it wasn't HER Josh.

CloneJosh stood and reached up and took a long, final stretch. Then he walked to a door that connected the room he was in with the one next door and he stepped through it. Donna followed CJ to the next window to see what he was going to do next. This room was white like the last one but rather than steam vents in the floor, there were two large shower heads hung from the ceiling with pull chains attached and a long drain set into the floor.

Before she had time to blink, he casually stripped off the towel and tossed it aside. Even though it wasn't really Josh, Donna felt her knees go weak at the sudden sight of him...ALL of him. He was well-endowed, just as she'd always thought the real Josh was and her fingers itched to touch him.

It was voyeuristic of her she knew, but she couldn't look away. He pulled on the first chain and had thin ribbons of what looked like a blue, creamy liquid pouring down. She realized it was a soap of some kind when he stood under it and rubbing it into his hair and his skin...all his skin, worked up a thick, rich lather. 

Pulling the chain again the liquid soap ceased and he moved to the second shower head and pulled the chain. Floods of steamy hot water began raining down on him, rinsing the soap off in foamy rivers. As he turned his back to them, she observed that his butt looked even better now than it had outlined in under the towel.

Watching him, she couldn't believe how aroused she was and how much she wished she was as naked as he was and she was sharing the same shower with the real Josh. With what she was seeing now, it was so easy to imagine the fantasy. It set her whole body humming with feeling. 

CloneJosh turned off the water and walked over to a small table that held a stack of towel. One he wrapped around his hips again and the other he used to towel off his hair and body. Then he stepped into the next room.

"CJ, do you always oversee this process?" Donna asked as they moved down to observe CloneJosh in the next room. 

Again it was a plain white room but in the middle of the room there appeared to be a massage table set up. Still clad in his towel, CloneJosh climbed onto the table and patiently waited. The patience he was showing punctuated the fact that he definitely wasn't the real Josh.

"Yes, I don't trust anyone else to do it. Plus I've got to be here for the final step when we wipe his memory." CJ told her. "I would have been her sooner tonight, but well...Danny had me so distracted I lost track of the time. Debbie called to remind me how late it was getting so I rushed over here in this outfit. I didn't have time to get back into the corset and the rest of the getup."

"Why didn't you just...poof or appear or whatever or inside the building? Why did you have to walk?"

"While most of my powers will work here, there's a protection spell on the city so that no one can just 'poof' into it. Without it, Amy could do the 'poofing' and get into the city with no trouble."

"Makes sense," Donna commented as she watched a woman that looked remarkably like CJ's assistant Carol, enter the room and start giving Josh a massage. 

"CJ, what exactly does he go through during decontamination?" Donna asked.

"His clothes are removed and burned. Then he goes through a period of visualization and meditation, which includes the yoga. After that he gets a full scrub down with antiviral and antibacterial soap and a hot shower. This is the final stage."

"And what happens here?"

"He gets a massage and he goes to sleep. Once he's asleep, I put a spell on him to keep him asleep and wipe his memory of the last few days." 

Oddly unsettled, Donna watched as CloneJosh appeared to relax completely and his eyes slid closed. Even if he was a tool as CJ had said, Donna's own innate sense of right and wrong pricked at her conscience. It didn't seem right that anyone, even a clone created for that purpose, would have sacrifice themselves in some way to protect her from Amy.

Apparently well aware the CJ would be in observation, Carol signaled to them that CloneJosh was asleep.

"Well, that's my cue," CJ said. "You want to wait here for me? This won't take long. We could go get a drink or something. I think I about wore Danny out. He won't miss me for another hour or so."

"No, that's okay, thanks. I'm starting to feel tired," she lied. If anything she felt more awake than she had before. With a nod, CJ disappeared through a door, leaving Donna standing along in the corridor.

What she really wanted was to get away from this place...far away and from this clone that looked like Josh but wasn't and just made her miss him more than ever.

"I'll just find my way back to the hotel," she murmured as a sense of loneliness and isolation fell over her like a heavy blanket.

**********  
Chapter 10

“It’s already 2:30, what’s the hold up?” Toby demanded the next afternoon as the four of them waited for their appointment with the Wizard.

“Calm down, Toby,” Donna told him. “It’s not like we have somewhere else to be.”

“That’s beside the point, she told us to be here on time and then she keeps us cooling our heels!”

Her expression bland, Mrs. Landingham looked up from her computer. “I’m sitting right here, Toby, you don’t need to talk about me like I’m not in the room,” she admonished calmly.

“But...” Toby began to bluster.

“The Wizard is very busy. Your appointment is not the only one he has today and sometimes they run over. You’ll just have to be patient.” She looked at he rest of them. “Donna, Sam, Leo would you the three of you like a cookie while you wait?” she asked lifting the lid on her crystal jar.

As getting one of her cookies in the real world had always been something akin to a gold star, not even Leo could resist her offer. “Thank you,” they each said as they took one.

She shifted her intent, but motherly gaze back to their metal suited friend. “Now Toby, would you like a cookie or would you rather keep yelling at me?”

That seemed to get his attention. “I wasn’t yelling,” he grumbled. “I was...” Trailing off, he eyed the jar. “I’ll take the cookie,” he said, snatching one out before she could change her mind. 

“Just out of curiosity,” Sam began as she went back to typing. “Who’s the Wizard meeting with right now?”

This time Mrs. Landingham didn’t look up and only continued to type when she spoke. “Just one of our allies from a far away country. A very powerful ruler.”

As if on cue, just then the door to the Wizard’s inner sanctum opened and out stepped out none other than Lord John Marbury. And although his demeanor was exactly the same as Donna remembered, the incredibly gaudy maharaja outfit he was wearing made him look vastly different than they were used to. 

“Oh, God help us,” Leo muttered. 

“Gerald...!” he greeted lustily.

Leo looked at Sam and groused. “Even in a dream he can’t get my name right."

“Just be happy he didn’t ask you to carry his bags or shine his shoes this time,” Sam whispered.

“Please tell me you’re not the Wizard,” Leo said a bit louder.

“No, indeed I am not your illustrious Wizard. I’m only here for a visit.”

“Thank God.” 

“Well...” he said clapping his hands together. “This is certainly a fine group you have gathered here.” His eyes settled on Donna and he smiled broadly. “Ah, yes, and the fair Donnatella,” he said. “You have magnificent breasts, my dear. Would you like to join my harem?”

Donna couldn’t stifle a smile. “Perhaps some other time, Lord John, but I appreciate the offer.”

“Actually, it’s no longer ‘sir’,” he told her. “Now it’s King Marbury.”

“What’s he the king of...Pretentious-town?” Leo grumbled softly making Sam snort out a laugh.

Donna ignored them. “King? As in the King of England?” she asked with a straight face. This whole conversation was ridiculous, but she was learning that in this dream it was often best to just roll with it. 

“Oh, my no. Haven’t you heard? I’m the new King of India,” he announced.

"How did you become King?" Donna asked.

Sam leaned over to whisper to Leo. "Are we not going to mention the fact that even if India had a monarch it wouldn't be called a king?"

"Yeah, because that's the biggest problem I have with this whole encounter," Leo whispered back.

“Well, yes, you know, I’m not quite sure how it happened," Marbury continued looking a bit befuddled. "I was at a meeting of some kind, there was apparently a coup or some such thing, and both sides killed each other. As I was the last one standing, the people declared me king."

"But you’re not even Indian," Toby pointed out.

"I don’t think they cared much about that," he observed dryly. "The populous seemed to think I’d look good on their money."

"Ah..." Toby said. "A people with discriminating taste."

"Yes!" Marbury said excitedly as he clapped his hand on Toby's shoulder, a motion which made a loud banging noise, as if he’d just smacked an empty trash can. "That's just what I thought too!”

Leo rolled his eyes and Sam just smirked as Marbury continued.

“The next thing I know, I’m being dressed in this fine raiment and they’re giving me a harem.”

“Well, it’s good to know the job comes with perks,” Toby told him dryly.

“Yes, indeed," he agreed with a grin. "Well, I’m off...”

“You can say that again,” Leo muttered and this time it was Toby who had to try and keep a straight face.

“What was that, Gerald?” 

“Nothing, Sir...er, I mean King John,” Leo said. As much as it pained him to call the man ‘king’ if it would get rid of him, then he’d do it.

Marbury took Donna’s hand and kissed it grandly. “If you change your mind about being part of my harem, Donnatella, be sure to let me know.”

Donna couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of it all. “I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

“Wonderful!” he said. “Well, good-bye all!” 

And with that Marbury swept out of the office.

“Well, if that’s the kind of guy the Wizard is meeting with, I’m not sure he’s going to be of much help,” Leo said into the silence Marbury’s departure had created in the room.

“What have we got to lose?” Sam said with a shrug as the phone on Mrs. Landingham’s desk rang and she answered it.

Leo looked down woefully at the lion coat. “Yeah, I guess you have a point there. Right now, I don’t even have my dignity left.”

Mrs. Landingham replaced the phone in its cradle. “The Wizard is ready. You can go in now,” she said inclining her head toward the large white door.

When ‘King’ Marbury had come out of the Wizard’s office, Donna had tried to catch a glimpse of the Wizard or at least what was in the next room, but the door had opened and closed so quickly, she hadn’t been able to make out anything. 

Given that the area Mrs. Landingham’s desk was in looked an awful lot like the outer area of oval office, she assumed that the door would lead them into the oval office...or at least something close to it.

When she opened the door and the four of them stepped inside, she made a mental note to stop assuming things when it came to this dream.

They were standing in...of all things...a barn.

“Wait a minute...isn’t this president Bartlet’s barn in New Hampshire?” Donna guessed.

“It sure looks like it,” Leo put in.

“How the hell did we get here?” Toby demanded.

The four of them turned around and in sharp contrast to where they were standing now, they saw through the doorway that Mrs. Landingham was still sitting at her desk in the neat outer office area. On the other hand, they were standing in a wooden barn that looked almost exactly like the one on the president’s farm, complete with various farm animals and hay, both in bales and scattered on the floor.

Taking one look at the hay, Sam paled. "I don't like this place," he said backing up a couple of steps. "I think I'll just wait...out...there."

Understanding his reluctance, Donna linked her arm with his before he got very far. "Don't worry, Sam, we'll protect you from the hay," she said suppressing a grin as Leo closed the door, effectively cutting off Sam's escape route.

Although Sam was still as skittish as a newborn colt, the four of them walked deeper into the barn.

"So where's this mystical, wondrous Wizard?" Toby asked. "'Cause unless he's masquerading as a some type of farm animal, I don't see him."

"I think the metal in that getup you've got on is going to your brain because I'm right here," a stern voice said.

They whipped around to see where the voice was coming from. There, along the far end of barn they saw a perfect replica of the Resolute Desk that the President used in the real Oval office. But what hung above it was the real eye catcher. A huge widescreen TV that took up most of the wall.

And on the widescreen TV was none other than President Bartlet himself...well sort of.

It was a younger version of the President...or more accurately, just his head floating through a blue sky dotted with simple white clouds. From the pictures she'd seen of him, Donna thought it was from about the time he was running for governor of New Hampshire. His hair was slightly darker, his face less lined, his eyes almost fiery with youth and passion instead of the more seasoned, thoughtful look she was used to.

"Well...I haven't got all day," the Wizard said. "You talked your way in here, just what do you want?"

The four of them stood there speechless.

"Spit it out!!!" the Wizard demanded making them all jump a little. His booming voice seemed to come at them from every angle.

"Orange County beaches are a national treasure!" Sam blurted into the crushing silence.

The expression on the Wizard's face was something between amusement and annoyance. "Thank you for that update." 

Toby scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. “I swear, Sam, I’ve just about had it. I had to listen to you muttering that in your sleep all night. If you say it one more time, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

“I really am sorry,” Sam said sheepishly. “I just can’t seem to stop myself...especially when I get nervous.”

The clouds and the sky behind him began to grow dark and angry. "I don't have time for this nonsense! Get out!!" the Wizard bellowed. "You're wasting my time."

"Okay," Sam already turning for the door. 

Toby snagged his arm before he got too far. "Nice try, straw boy." 

"No, wait...please," Donna pleaded. "We need your help."

Frowning, the Wizard considered her. "What makes you think I can help you?"

"CJ said you might be able to," Donna said. "You're my...our last hope." 

The sky lightened again and the frown eased as he studied her. "Your last hope for what exactly?"

"To help me figure out how I can wake up from this...whatever it is."

His expression softened for a moment. "But you don't need me for that. When you're ready you'll wake up."

"But that's just it," she argued. "How do I get ready?!" 

"You already know what you need to do."

Donna resisted the urge to stomp her foot. "Everyone keeps saying that, but I really don't!"

The Wizard was quiet for a long moment and then his gaze shifted to Sam, Toby and Leo. "And who are you three supposed to be? Team Donna?" 

"Something like that," Toby answered.

"And I suppose three of you want something too?"

The three of them exchanged looks. "Uh, no, we're fine," Sam said.

Donna jumped in. "Yes, they do," she insisted as she laid her hand on Sam's shoulder. "He wants to know what he was thinking by running for Congress."

"Is this true?" the Wizard said.

"Uh, yeah, what she said," Sam put in weakly.

Donna moved over to Toby who looked resigned and remained quiet. "He wants to know how he can get the family he wants."

When she moved to Leo, he held up his hand. "I can answer for myself, thank you," he said. "All I want to know is how to get this damn coat off."

The Wizard stared hard at all of them. "And that's it? That's all you want?"

Donna looked at the guys and then back to the Wizard and nodded. "Yes."

"Fine."

Donna blinked. She had been expecting him to yell or tell them no. "Really?"

"Yes," he nodded. "But you have to do something for me."

"Uh, oh, I don't like the sound of this," Toby muttered.

Donna's stomach gave a little lurch. "What do you want us to do?"

"Bring me the witch's bike."

"Her bike?" Donna said with a frown. "Why do you want her bike?"

The sky behind the Wizard turned the angry color of a ripening bruise. "I have my reasons!" he bellowed making them jump again. "You will not question me!!"

"No way. We won’t do it!" Sam insisted. 

"It’s too dangerous," Leo added.

"It's not worth the risk," Toby finished.

Donna's mind raced through the options. She needed the Wizard's help to get out of this dream and she owed it to Sam, Toby and Leo to see that they got what they wanted too. She also couldn't help but think about CloneJosh and all the people that had thrown themselves in front of her to protect her from Amy. Maybe it was time she dealt with this particular demon on her own.

"I’ll do it!" she blurted.

The three of them looked at her like she'd grown a second head.

"Excuse me?" Toby said.

"What?" Sam said.

"Are you out of your mind?" Leo said. 

"No, I'm going to do this," she insisted. "I think I NEED to do this. Don't worry, you don't have to come with me. I'll do it alone."

None of them noticed that a look of what could almost be called...pride...crossed the Wizard's face. 

Toby sighed. "Well, we can't let you do that." He glanced at Sam and Leo. "Can we?"

Sam and Leo both shook their head. "No, if you go, we all go," Sam answered.

The Wizard's features were now back to looking stern. "Fine, do it or don’t do it, but don’t come back and bother me unless you have her bike!" he told them.

"We won't," Donna promised. "So, just to be clear, if we bring you her bike you'll give each of us what we want?" 

"Yes, but don't get any ideas about trying to pull a fast one!" the Wizard warned. "I do not look kindly on people who try to trick me. I have spies in the witch's compound that will tell me if you really did get her bike and not just one from Wal-Mart."

"They have Wal-Marts here?" Sam asked. "I mean, I know they have them everywhere but..."

"Silence!!" the Wizard bellowed.

Donna shot Sam a dirty look. "I promise it will be her bike."

The Wizard nodded. "Very well. Now GO! Other people are waiting to see me."

"Thank you," Donna said as she headed for the door with the three of them in tow. 

After saying goodbye to Mrs. Landingham, they were silent as they walked back to the hotel. But as soon as the door to their suite was closed, that abruptly ended. 

"Are you crazy?" Toby demanded.

"Toby..." Sam tried.

"No, I think I'm asking a valid question," Toby continued. "Donna, have you LOST your mind?!"

"No! Of course not," Donna said dragging a hand through her hair. "Well, at least no more so than in the rest of this stupid ass dream."

"Then explain to me...to US, why we've been spending all this time ducking the witch and keeping you safe from her and now because some floating head tells you to, all you want to do is waltz right up to her and take her bike?!"

"Well, I..." Donna began.

"Don't you think the witch is already pissed off enough at you? Did it ever occur to you that she might not LIKE you stealing her bike?"

Donna's temper bubbled over. "Yes, Toby! It has occurred to me!" she shouted back. "Did you ever stop to think I might be tired of running from Amy?!" She let out a harsh laugh. "I mean...God, I can't seem to get away from her. She's here in my dreams screwing up my life and when I do eventually wake up, I get to look forward to facing her in real life where she's just waiting to get her claws into Josh all over again!"

Her words sent a shock of pain through her head and with a gasp she stumbled. Sam and Leo grabbed each of her arms to help steady her. 

"Donna?" Sam asked as they helped her over to a chair. "Are you okay?"

As she had in the courtyard the night before, Donna pressed her hands to her head and tried to remember to breathe through the pain.

"Do you want us to call someone?" Leo tried.

As the pain began to recede, she let out a long breath. "No...no, I'm okay," she said softly keeping her head down. "I've just...I've been getting this pain in my head, but...it's getting better."

"A pain in your head doesn't sound too good," Sam said with concern. "We should find you a doctor or something."

"No, I'm okay," she insisted. 

Slowly, she managed to lift her head and her eyes, now wet from tears the pain had caused on, met Toby's. 

"I need to do this, Toby. I need to face her. You guys don't have to come, in fact I think it's better if you don't. I feel like I should do this on my own," she said quietly. "If I can't even face her here in my dreams...in my own head...then I'll never be free of her."

Looking a little contrite for his earlier outburst, Toby rattled something in his pocket thoughtfully as he stared at her. "All right, I can see you're determined to do this," he replied. "But you can just forget about doing it alone. We're in this together."

With her head now only throbbing dully, Donna worked up a smile. "Thanks, Toby."

**********  
Silently, Donna slipped off her nightgown and got dressed in the dark. Due to the dangers of the rose maze, the four of them had decided to wait until the morning to set out for Amy's. Of course, Donna had only agreed to that so they wouldn't try to keep her from carrying out her own plan. She knew how to deal with the roses and had no intention of waiting until morning.

As much as she appreciated their loyalty to her, she had wanted to protect the guys from what she was going to face in Amy's compound. And she'd meant it when she said she felt like she had to do this on her own.

Carrying her shoes so that her footsteps made no noise, she dropped a note for them on her bed and then crept through the suite and out into the hall without waking anyone.  
Because someone might see her, she avoided going through the lobby and ducked out a side exit she'd seen during her travels the night before.

The only stumbling block to her plan was getting the key to open the gate at the entrance to the city. Her hope was that Mrs. Landingham might have left one of the keys in her desk. Making her way to back to the office, Donna eased open the door and stopped dead when she found she was not alone.

"Hello, Donna," Mrs. Landingham greeted from behind her desk. If she was surprised to see Donna there, she didn't show it.

"Oh, hello..." Donna said weakly. "I must have made a wrong turn."

Mrs. Landingham eyed her carefully. "Now, dear, I think we both know that's not true," she said with a hint of disappointment in her voice as if she knew Donna was lying. "I suspect you're just where you want to be."

Donna had forgotten how hard it could be to lie to Mrs. Landingham when she fixed you with that motherly I-know-everything-you're-thinking stare. "It was so late, I thought maybe you would be asleep," she admitted.

"Well, when you get to be my age, dear, you don't need a lot of sleep," she told Donna. "Now why don't you tell me why you're here?"

"I need the key to the gate," Donna said quickly. "I need to leave the city...tonight."

Mrs. Landingham only stared at her for a moment. "What's your rush?" she asked. "You know it's dangerous out in the rose maze after dark."

"I know it's dangerous," Donna agreed. "But I think my pendant will protect me."

The older woman let out a resigned sigh. "Very well," she said standing up and pulling the key out of her pocket.

"You're not going to try and stop me?" Donna asked in surprise as they walked out of the office and toward the exit that would lead them to the gate.

"No, Donna. I'm not your mother and you're too old to need a keeper," she said. "I'm sure you've thought this out completely."

Well, Donna wouldn't say that she'd thought it out COMPLETELY, but she had given it a great deal of thought. She wasn't going to admit any part of that though.

"It's better this way," Donna said quietly as the tall marines opened the doors for them and they walked to the gate. "I don't want to put anyone else at risk."

"That's very noble of you, dear," she said slipping the key in the lock. "But would you mind if I gave you a piece of advice?"

"Um, sure," Donna said as Mrs. Landingham opened the gate. 

"While there's nothing wrong with standing on your own two feet, you shouldn't be afraid to lean on your friends." She gave a piercing look. "Or follow your heart."

Impulsively, Donna put her arms around Mrs. Landingham and gave her a hug. "I'll remember that."

Mrs. Landingham patted her on the back. "I hope you find what you're looking for, dear."

Donna pulled back. "I hope so too."

With that, Donna took a deep breath and walked out into the maze.

TBC


	3. The Wizard of West Wing: Chapters 11-15

**********  
Chapter 11

"I just don't see why you're so determined to stay in California," Josh whined as they walked downstairs. "I mean Will's fine and all but I know Toby would love to have you back here." He gave Sam a sideways glance. "Hell, we'd all love to have you back. It's not the same around here without you."

As they started down the hall toward the file room, Sam sighed. This was not a new argument. They'd had it a number of times since he'd decided to stay in California. 

"I keep telling you, Josh, getting my ass kicked in the election left me with a really bad taste in my mouth for politics. Is it such a stretch that I might want a break? I like having time off...time for a personal life. As exciting as working in this place is, it's exhausting. You're basically on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year." 

Josh paused at the door to the basement file room. "So does that mean that you're done with politics and Washington permanently?" 

Sam thought about what President Bartlet had told him once about running for president. Although right now he couldn't fathom such a thing, the idea still hovered in the back of his mind.

He smiled. "Never say never, Josh."

Well, that was more than Josh had expected and he smiled back as he shoved the file room door open. "Good, then I'll just have to keep working on you, won't I?" 

Sam snorted as they walked inside. "As if I could stop you."

The file room was cavernous with hundreds, maybe thousands of cardboard file boxes stacked on row after row of metal shelves. Fluorescent lights mounted to the ceiling had already been turned on and provided plenty of light for them to see.

"Lucy!!! I'm home!!!" Josh called as they walked along one end of the shelves. 

"Are you sure she's in here?" Sam asked when there was no answer.

"Well, the lights are on so someone's been in here recently," Josh said as they neared the far side of the room. "Donna!" he called out. "Stop what you're doing for five minutes and come say 'hi' to Sam!"

"Maybe she's hiding from you," Sam teased with a smirk. "If you weren't such a slave driver..." 

As they reached the back wall, Josh frowned. "What the hell...?"

A large section of shelving along the back wall had fallen over. Boxes that had once occupied it were dumped into a huge pile on the bare cement floor and the shelving unit was resting on top of the whole thing. Some of the boxes were still closed while others were missing their tops and the files and papers were spread all over the floor.

"Josh..." Sam said in an almost strangled voice.

His head snapped around to Sam. "What?"

"Look..." he said pointing.

There, peeking out of the top edge of the pile was a delicate hand, bare except for the small silver ring that glinted softly on the index finger. The same ring that Josh had seen Donna wearing earlier in that same day.

"Oh, my God...DONNA!!" Josh heard himself yell as he all but leapt forward. 

Without a word, he and Sam manhandled the shelving unit up and shoved it against the wall. Then they started jerking up boxes, loose files and papers and slowly they uncovered Donna's limp form. Kicking away some of the boxes on the floor next to her, Josh dropped down beside her as Sam continued to pull things off her legs.

Josh's heart was in his throat. A huge swollen lump distorted the right side of her forehead and the area around her right eye where something had obviously hit her. Along the top edge of the lump was an ugly looking cut. Because of her position on the floor, blood from the cut had run down over her temple and seeped into her hair, leaving it dark and matted. She'd been bleeding long enough that the blood was partially dry and the dark red was a sharp contrast to her light blonde hair and her usually alabaster skin that was now pale to the point of being nearly transparent. 

Stomach twisting, Josh tore his attention away from the blood to focus on her face. "Donna! Wake up!" he said gently shaking her shoulders. He got no response. 

Sam dropped down on the other side of her and pressed his fingers to the side of her throat. "I've got a pulse, I think she's just unconscious," he reported as he jerked out his cell phone and saw with dismay that there was no reception. "I can't get a signal down here. I'm going to go get help."

Josh didn't hear Sam or even notice when he jumped up and ran out of the room. All he could hear was the roaring in his own ears as he grabbed onto Donna's hand. 

"Donna! Stop screwing around and wake up!!" he continued to all but shout at her as he tried to lightly slap at her cheeks in a vain attempt to wake her up. 

**********  
Breathing hard with fear, Donna pressed herself up against the fence and tried to blend into the shrubbery as she watched Amy go whizzing down one of the rows of the hedge maze on her bike. That had been close...too close. 

Rather than risking an actual foray into the heart of the maze as soon as she'd stepped out of the gate, Donna had opted to follow the narrow path that went between the maze and the perimeter fence surrounding the city. Mrs. Landingham had told them when they'd arrived that if you followed the fence, eventually you'd come to Amy's domain. 

As it turned out it had been the right decision. If she'd gone into the maze, she was sure she'd had been captured by now. When Amy wasn't being...distracted by CloneJosh, she apparently really did patrol the rose maze on her bike looking for hapless visitors. Actually, if Donna hadn't been worried about getting caught, what she was seeing would have struck her as funny. 

Unless this one was a different one altogether, Amy's bike had been modified since she'd seen it last in the well of the House chamber . Now it had a sidecar of sorts and riding in the sidecar was Henry her basset hound. Apparently she was using his nose to help sniff out anyone hiding in the maze.

By keeping to the perimeter fence, Donna could stay just out of the maze and apparently out of their radar and for whatever reason, the roses didn’t seem to be too interested in her. The fence also had the benefit of having shrubbery...non-magic shrubbery clinging to parts of it so she at least a little bit of cover to hide in if she needed to. Although she knew she'd have to face Amy eventually, she wanted to get into her compound and get the lay of the land before she did.

"Donna..."

The single whispered word came softly to her on the wind.

"Donna... "

And unless she was completely mistaken it was Josh's voice. 

"Stop screwing around and wake up..."

Donna desperately wanted to tell him that she was trying to just that, but she couldn't begin to know where the sound of his voice was coming from.

Spinning around, she looked for the source of the sound but found nothing. Could he be somewhere here in this dream after all? The thought set her head to throbbing again and the world seemed to dip and fade around her. She had to hold onto the metal fence bars to stay upright.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" 

The words were like a bucket of cold water thrown on her head. It was like having one person whisper in one ear so you were straining to hear them and then having someone else start yelling in the other ear.

Donna jumped about a foot in the air and managed to stifle the terrified squeak that threatened to escape. As the pain in her head began to recede again, she turned toward the voice.

"CJ!" she hissed. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"And you didn't answer my question!" CJ said. "What are you doing?!"

"Keep your voice down," Donna told her in a harsh whisper as she looked to see if they’d drawn Amy’s attention. "And I could ask you the same question. What are YOU doing?" 

"I'm trying to figure out if you've lost your ever loving mind," CJ shot back in an annoyed whisper as she tucked the gauzy blue bathrobe tighter around her.

Donna’s heart dipped when she realized that she hadn't been nearly as stealthy as she'd hoped and CJ had caught her. She wondered who else knew she was gone.

“How did you know I was here?” Donna asked, trying to figure out where she’d slipped up with her planning.

“I was worried you might pull some stunt like this so I put a spell on your pendant so I could always locate you. It also signals me when you enter or leave the city. Which is why I threw on the first thing I could find and now I’m standing here in my robe.” CJ sent her an impatient look. “Now, you still haven’t answered my question. What hell are you doing out here?”

Donna couldn’t help but get a little defensive. “It’s a free country, isn’t it? This is MY dream, right? Why can’t I go where I damn well please?” Donna asked. 

“You can,” CJ replied. “But you’re avoiding my question. You still haven’t explained why you’re out here by yourself...at NIGHT...instead of tucked up safe in the city with the Three Musketeers.”

“I don’t need babysitters,” Donna said, hating the petulant sound in her voice. 

Arms folded, CJ merely raised an eyebrow and gave her a long stare as she waited for a response. 

Unable to take that stare for very long, Donna finally threw up her hands. “Okay, fine...I’m just doing what you and the Wizard told me.”

CJ frowned now. “What do you mean?”

“You told me to find the Wizard and have him help me figure out what I have to do to wake up, so I did. But he said he wouldn’t help me until I brought him Amy’s bike.”

“He what?!” she said a little too loudly and earned a shush from Donna. “He what?” she said in a lower but no less angry voice.

“He said he’d only help me and the guys if we brought him Amy’s bike,” Donna explained.

“I swear, the man can screw up a plan faster than reporters can sniff out a story,” CJ muttered to no one in particular. “I tell him to do one simple thing...”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Donna interrupted. “A plan? You had a plan...about me?”

CJ rolled her eyes, then sighed. “It’s not like it sounds. The Wizard is so good at talking, he was supposed to talk to you and help you figure out what you needed to know to wake up. He never said he was going to put a condition on the deal.” She paused. “Although, like I told you before, you already know what you need know.”

Donna was getting really tired of hearing that line from everyone. “I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind and would like to clue me in on exactly what I ‘know’ that I don’t know?!”

CJ looked a little annoyed. “I told you I can’t. Not I WON’T, but I can’t.”

In an almost dismissive move, Donna turned to scan the area to see if it were safe to proceed. “Well, in that case, I’m on a mission here, so go away,” she said as she started to move along the fence again.

Donna hadn’t taken more than a few steps away from her before CJ grabbed her arm. “Wait. Why don't you at least let the guys help you?”

Donna shook off CJ's hold. “They tried to come with me, but I don’t want them to risk themselves,” she said over her shoulder as she continued to creep along the fence. “Everyone has been throwing themselves between me and Amy and I thought maybe it was time to put my big girl panties on and deal with her myself.”

CJ was quiet for a moment as she followed Donna. “Okay, but if you waited until the morning when Amy’s powers aren’t so strong you'd have a better chance,” she tried.

Donna shook her head. "I'm going to try and put off meeting her face to face for as long as possible. It will be easier to sneak into her compound if it's dark and she's out searching the maze," Donna replied. "Plus if I wait until the morning there's no way the guys will let me do this on my own."

"Well, yeah, that's sort of the idea," CJ replied.

“I’ll be okay, CJ,” she said over her shoulder.

"Famous last words," CJ muttered.

"You worry too much," Donna said.

CJ grabbed her arm again. "Wait, I need you to listen to me for a minute."

Donna stopped. "What?" she said impatiently. 

"If you go into Amy's compound, I can't help you," she told her. "My magic won't work there."

In Donna's mind, CJ really wasn't being all that helpful right about now anyway so she didn't have a lot to lose. "Okay," she said. "I understand."

CJ looked like she was getting frustrated now. "Donna, don't do this."

Turning away, Donna started moving along the fence again. "I have to, CJ," she said. "If I don't I'll never get out of here."

"Fine," CJ said in a clipped tone. 

Then there was a sound...like a snap and it was quiet. When Donna looked over her shoulder, she found she was alone.

Well, Donna thought, that was that. 

Trying not to be overwhelmed by the returning sense of being alone, Donna let out a steadying breath and started moving again. She figured she must be getting closer to Amy’s compound because the fence began to change. The smooth round bars on the fence had sprouted what looked like pieces of jagged razor wire and the soft foliage she’d been hiding in now and then had become tangles of sharp brambles that made hiding all but impossible.

It had also gotten darker. The white buildings of Eagle City had given off their own almost ethereal light, but here in the area they called the East Wing everything was shadow and sharp edged darkness. She also noted that when she'd left the city, the sky had been clear and the stars were shining brightly above her. But here there was an oppressiveness...as if light, positive energy and even happiness were somehow absorbed...no not absorbed...that wasn't the right word. Fed on...yes, it was like any extra light was all but swallowed. The funny thing was, she had no idea why she had that feeling so strongly. 

Although what she was feeling was a little disconcerting, she pressed on. Very shortly she neared another opening in the fence. Trying to hide behind the brambles as much as she could, Donna studied the scene. This opening didn't have a gate like the entrance to Eagle City. This one was just a wide arched opening with a guard flanking each side of it and a torch burning over each of their heads. 

The guards stood ramrod straight and were dressed in simple, black uniforms unadorned with any kind of medals, trimming or obvious weapons. There was also what looked like a large white sign hanging over the archway. And unless she missed her guess, it was the sign that Mrs. Landingham had described as one of the entrance signs to Eagle City that Amy had stolen. If that was the case, Amy must have hoped to use the signs to trick hapless visitors into thinking this was Eagle City.

Not that it fooled Donna at all. But now she had a problem...how was she supposed to get past the guards?

Considering that, she took a couple of steps back and nearly stumbled on a loose rock under her foot. Annoyed, she bumped it out of the way.

Wait, that might work...it was a little like something out of a movie, but it still might work.

After scanning the immediate area for any signs that someone was coming or had detected her presence and finding none, she dropped down on her hands and knees. Searching the area around her, she came up with two decent sized rocks.

Getting to her feet, she took careful aim and lobbed the first rock toward the guards. As she'd planned, it took a high slow arc and then dropped down behind the guard on the far side of the arch. Both guards startled and looked toward the sound. Donna lobbed the other rock so it would hopefully fall in the same place. This time when it fell the rock must have hit some kind of foliage, maybe a patch of brambles that lined the fence, because it made a lot more noise.

When it did, both guards hurried away from the entrance and disappeared into the dark to investigate the noise.

"I can't believe that worked," Donna muttered as she darted forward and slipped through the entrance.

Once she got inside, it was a little harder than she'd expected. Although she could see lights on the main building ahead of her, the lights were dim and the blackness here really was oppressive. So much so that she couldn't even see her own feet as she walked along what she thought was some kind of path. She hoped there wasn't any kind of obstruction in her path, because she'd never see it.

It felt like it took an eternity, but she made her way up to the building without getting hurt and without anyone discovering her. She avoided what looked like the main entrance and two other guards and decided to go around the building to find a side entrance. Besides the two guards she's already seen, there didn't seem to be anyone else guarding the building. Since it was hard to see exactly where she was going, she placed her hand against the wall of the building to use as a guide. 

And quickly pulled her hand away. She'd already knew it was a dark stone structure, but when she'd touched it she'd found the texture to be rough, almost jagged and the feeling of it was cold, icy cold...to the point of almost being painful. She didn't like to touch it, so she only brushed her fingers against it lightly if she absolutely had to as she made her way around the building.

After passing a number of doors that were locked, she found one that looked more promising. It was a 50/50 door, like you'd often see in farm houses or barns where it was split in two with a top and bottom half. The top half was open and as Donna peeked around it she could see she'd found a surprisingly warm and homey kitchen. It appeared to be unoccupied, but on the stove she saw a large pot stewing and the wafting smell of chili hit her nostrils.

When she tried turning the knob to open the bottom half of the door she found it locked so she reached over and turned the inside knob and the door opened silently. Donna carefully stepped in, was trying to decide where to go next when she heard a noise. Before she had time to blink much less hide, someone emerged from what looked to be a large side pantry off the kitchen.

Donna blinked when she found herself looking into the eyes of none other than Zoey Bartlet. Her hair was up in a tidy bun and she was wearing a large white apron over her clothes, but it was definitely Zoey Bartlet.

A look of shock came over Zoey's face. "What are you doing here?" she said with dismay as she glanced around to see if anyone else was in any part of the kitchen as she hurried over to Donna. "You can't be here."

"Zoey?" Donna said in disbelief. 

Zoey managed a mischievous little grin. "Who were you expecting? Auntie Em?"

Donna still couldn't quite get over her shock at seeing a friend here in the middle of what she thought would be enemy territory. "No, I...I guess I didn't know what to expect. What are you doing here? I thought this is was the witch's compound."

"Oh, it is," she said stirring the chili. "Which leads me back to my original question, why are you here?"

"Your father..." Donna stopped. Was the Wizard her father here? "...um, the Wizard sent me."

Zoey frowned. "Why the heck would he do that? He knew the plan."

"Again with the plan..." Donna said in frustration. "...why is it that everyone but me apparently knew about this plan?"

Zoey shrugged. "I don't know, I just work here."

"And why is that exactly?" Donna asked. "I mean, you're not on Amy's...I mean the witch's side are you?"

"Oh, no, of course not. Well, the witch thinks so, but no." Zoey lowered her voice conspiratorially. "I'm a spy...it's all very exciting and hush, hush."

Donna now remembered the Wizard saying that he had people in the witches organization. "Are there other spies here?"

"Yes, one other," Zoey said, not elaborating. "Now why on earth did my father send you here? He knows that all the witch has been doing for the last two days is ranting about how much she wants to kill you."

Well, that answered Donna's question about whether or not the Wizard was also Zoey's father in this dream.

"He told me to get Amy's bike and then he'd tell me how to wake up."

Shaking her head, Zoey huffed out a breath. "CJ's gonna kill him. She hates it when he goes off message," she said. "I guess we should expect it by now. Once he gets an idea in his head it's hard to change his mind." She considered. "Either that or he's been taking too much of his back medication again."

The conversation was getting a little surreal so Donna tried to steer it back on track. "Can you help me get her bike?"

"No, it's too dangerous. She almost never lets it out of her sight. When she's not riding it, she shrinks it and wears it on a bracelet."

"There has to be a way," Donna insisted. 

"Well, I can talk to my contact here and see what he thinks since he's closer to the witch than I am, but I think the best we can do is hide you until we can send you back to Eagle City." She watched Donna over the pot as she continued to stir. "You don't need my father to tell you how to wake up, though; you already know."

Donna resisted the urge to pull at her own hair in or simply throw something at Zoey. "Everyone keeps saying that, but I swear I don't know! If someone would just tell me, it would make things SO much easier."

Zoey seemed unfazed by her frustration. "Oh, I don't know what you need to know, I just know YOU know."

"Okay, even I didn't follow that," Donna said.

"I don't have the answer because the answer is inside you, Donna," she said sympathetically. "You just have to find it. No one else can do it for you. Even my father was never meant to tell you. He was just supposed to get you talking so you could figure it out for yourself." 

"But I have thought about it," Donna insisted. "I just don't know what I'm missing."

"Maybe you just need some time," Zoey suggested.

Donna let out a breath. "I guess so. But I'm going to need all the help I can get, so in the mean time I'm going to find a way to get her bike and give it to your father so he'll help me work it all out."

"I really don't think that's a good idea," Zoey said. "I mean getting my father to help you is fine but getting the witch's bike is another matter. I really don't see..." She froze for a second. "Someone's coming..." she whispered. "Go into the pantry. There's a large barrel you can hide behind."

Donna hurried into the large pantry and saw the barrel Zoey had indicated and she dropped down behind it. Actually the pantry was a great hiding place. Besides the barrel there were lots of other places someone could hide. Boxes and bags of items were stacked all over and long ribbons of vegetables and sausages hung from the ceiling providing even more cover if needed.

Straining, Donna could hear Zoey talking to someone. From the lower tone of the other voice, Donna suspected whoever she was talking to was male. 

Much to her surprise, Zoey poked her head into the doorway. "It's okay, you can come out," she said before disappearing back into the kitchen. 

Cautiously, Donna stood up and moved to the doorway. And blinked again, when she saw Charlie Young standing by the stove. He was dressed in one of the same starched black uniforms that Donna had seen the other guards wearing.

"Charlie?" Donna said in disbelief.

"Hey, Donna," he replied, although he didn't sound all that happy to see her.

"See, I told you she was here," Zoey told him with a smirk as she started making cornbread to go with the chili. 

"Well, she can't be here," he argued as he turned his attention to her. "You can't be here. It's too dangerous."

"My father sent her," Zoey told him.

"What?!" Charlie exclaimed. "What the hell, Zoey? Has your father lost his mind? CJ's going to kill him."

"That's what I said."

"Can't the man ever stick to a plan?" Charlie asked. "Wait, you don't think that he's taking too much back medication again, do you? You know what happens when he does that."

Stirring the chili again, a broad grin lit Zoey's face. "I said that too."

"He seemed perfectly lucid to me," Donna put in.

"As compared to what?" Charlie replied in frustration.

"Taste this," Zoey told him holding up the spoon. "Doesn't it need more cumin?"

He tasted it. "Well, if you were feeding it to Amy I'd say it needed arsenic, but since it's for us and the rest of the rest of the guards, I think it needs oregano."

"Oregano in chili?" Zoey said dubiously. "I think it needs cumin."

He watched her throw in some cumin. "Why do you even ask my opinion?"

She smiled up at him. "Because you're cute?"

A twinkle glinted in Charlie's eye now. "Okay," he said and leaning down he gave her a quick kiss.

"So wait, you two are the Wizard's spies?"

"Yeah," Charlie replied. "Zoey works as the cook and I'm part of Amy's guard. We keep tabs on things for the Wizard." He let out a breath. "Now, what are we going to do about you?"

"I think I can help with that," a new voice came from behind them.

It was a voice that chilled Donna to the bone.

The three of them turned to see Amy, leaning casually on the bottom half of the 50/50 door, a horribly, self-satisfied smirked lit her face.

When Donna had seen her in the House Chamber, Amy had looked angry but basically the same as normal. But here, in this place, in the low light, she looked more malevolent, twisted even with just the hint of madness in her eyes. 

"Well, well, isn't this cozy," Amy all but cackled as the door swung open for her and she sauntered into the kitchen. Behind her, they could see the faces of guards that had accompanied her. "I never thought I'd say this, but thank you, Donna. No only have you walked right into my waiting hands, but you helped me find out that one of my guards and my cook are both spies."

Instinctively, Charlie moved closer to Zoey. "I'm the spy. Zoey didn't know anything about it. I was just trying to recruit her."

Amy's grin just got wider. "Nice try, but I heard you tell our guest that you were both spies."

Donna's stomach churned. This was all her fault. Zoey and Charlie would have been safe if she hadn't come, now they were in danger. 

"Please, just let them go," Donna pleaded. "It's me you want. I'll do anything you want if you just let them go."

Amy laughed and it was sharp enough to cut glass. "You'll do anything I want anyway. You don't have any choice." 

With a sound not unlike a gunshot, she snapped her fingers to the guards. 

"Take them!"

**********  
Chapter 12

With what seemed to be a battalion of the witch’s guards in tow, Donna, Zoey and Charlie were marched into Amy’s...well...office was all Donna could only think to call it. Actually it looked like a mix of the First Lady’s Chief of Staff office, a courtroom, and a throne room. The walls were a dark wood, which made an interesting contrast to the fact that the office was decorated with what appeared to be some of the same materials that Josh had used to decorate his apartment for the Tahitian night with Amy. 

The whole scene was made even more creepy by the fact that the most of the rest of the available space on the walls was liberally covered in pictures Amy and Josh in a variety of situations. Having to see them together so much made Donna’s stomach roll. But she took some small solace in the fact that none of the pictures appeared to be the two of them in any kind of sexually explicit pose. If there had been, Donna was pretty sure she would have been forced to poke her own eyes out. 

In the middle of the room sat a desk, but not a normal desk that she would have expected to see in the office. This desk was enormous and very tall, almost more like an exaggerated judge's bench in a courtroom. 

The procession stopped with Donna, Zoey and Charlie standing in front of the desk like defendants in some kangaroo court. Because the seat for the desk appeared to be nearly six feet above them, Donna wondered how Amy would get up to it without any visible ladder or steps. The question was answered when Amy snapped her fingers and floated upward like some demented Mary Poppins, sans the umbrella, and settled herself in the plush chair. 

Snapping her fingers again, Amy’s reading glasses appeared in her hand and she slid them on.

Charlie turned to Donna and Zoey. "Is it just me or does anyone else think if she was such a bad ass witch she would have fixed her own eye-sight by now?" he whispered, making both of them snicker. 

“SILENCE!” Amy bellowed looking down on them from her perch. “So...what am I to do with the three of you?”

“You could give me your bike and let us go,” Donna suggested with more bravado than she felt. She figured, when all else failed, it couldn't hurt to try the direct approach.

The glare intensified. “I was being rhetorical,” Amy shot back.

“Nice try, though,” Charlie said.

“It was worth a shot,” Donna replied clasping her hands behind her back so no one could see they were trembling.

Steepling her hands on the desk, Amy ignored them. “Besides, if I let you go, I won’t have any fun...” she let out an evil little chuckle. “...and I like to have fun.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Zoey muttered.

“And you know what I think would be really fun?” Amy asked. "A trial."

“A trial?” Donna said in surprise. “Why would you possibly give us something as fair as a trial?”

Amy grinned and it made Donna think of a crocodile right before it ate a bunny rabbit. “Who said anything about it being fair?” Amy said with amusement.

With another snap of her fingers, a large wooden jury box appeared along the wall to their right. Much to Donna’s consternation, all twelve seats were filled with more Amy’s dressed in identical black judge's robes.

And all twelve of them were giving the three of them...or more accurately, HER the same malevolent glare.

“A fine looking group of jurists if I do say so myself,” Amy commented dryly.

“She always did like to look at herself,” Charlie whispered.

If Amy heard him she didn’t give any indication. “Ladies of the distinguished jury, have you reached a verdict?”

“Wait!” Donna interrupted before anyone on the ‘jury’ could answer.

“What now?!" Amy all but growled impatiently.

“Where’s our lawyer?" Donna questioned. "I mean, you didn’t even offer any evidence against us and you're already asking for a verdict."

Amy shrugged. "I'm trying to save time. I already know you're guilty, but I want to hear someone else...or twelve someone elses say it." She flicked a glance at the jury box. "So what do you say jury?"

"GUILTY!!!" the twelve Amy's said in perfect unison. "GUILTY!!! GUILTY!!!"

They began to all but chant it and Amy just grinned in satisfaction. But when she started to say something, no one could hear her over their voices. 

"ENOUGH!!! We get the idea already!" she said with more than a little annoyance and the jury fell instantly silent. "Well, I guess that settles it. You're guilty."

"Shocking," Zoey said with a roll of her eyes.

"And just what are we guilty of?" Charlie demanded.

"Take your pick," Amy said carelessly as she ticked them off. "High treason, spying, attempted grand theft bike, conspiracy to steal my ex-boyfriend, and generally just being in my way." 

Those last two aren't even crimes," Donna pointed out.

"They are here!" Amy snarled. "Now, as for sentencing..."

The jury jumped up like some demented choir. "DEATH!!! Kill them!" 

When they fell silent, Amy grinned. "I like the way they think."

"Death?!" Zoey argued in outrage. "Nothing we did deserves that!"

"Oh, the sentence only applies to her," Amy said as her gazed raked over Donna before flicking between Charlie and Zoey. "I have other plans for you two."

"But..." Donna tried.

"SILENCE!" Amy screamed. "The verdict and sentence are final!" She looked at her guard. "Take the two spies to the dungeon, but leave HER here."

"Take them away!!" the jury yelled.

"No, wait, please don't hurt them," Donna pleaded helplessly as Zoey and Charlie were led away. Now it was just her, Amy and the jury. 

"They're no concern of yours now," Amy said callously. "I'll do whatever I want with them." 

"Whatever she wants!!!" the jury echoed.

Amy rolled her eyes. "I forgot how annoying they can be," she said and snapping her fingers had the jury disappearing.

"Won't you reconsider and let them both go?" Donna tried one more time. "They're no threat to you now. I'm the one you really wanted. I'll even give you the necklace if you just let them go." 

As much as she hated the thought of exchanging the necklace for Zoey and Charlie's life, she didn't see any other way around it. If she didn't do everything she could to save them she would never be able to forgive herself.

Sliding out of her seat, Amy cackled as she floated to the ground. "You just don't get it, do you? You can't just give me the necklace. CJ was right, you got it from Mandy and as long as you're alive, it's yours and I can't touch it." She ran a finger down Donna's arm and Donna had to resist the urge to recoil. "But once you're dead, it becomes mine." Amy slowly circled her. "So you see, I'm well on my way to having everything I want. I have you and the biggest spies in my organization and as soon as you're dead, I'll have the necklace and Josh too."

"Why can't you just leave him alone?" Donna said desperately as she tried to blink back tears. "You don't even love him."

Amy's face contorted itself into a mocking smile. "It's not about love, it's never been about that. He's power and power is what I want." Then she smirked. "And the sex is amazing. I'm sorry you won't live long enough to experience it first hand."

Torn between fear and the feeling that her heart was breaking, Donna couldn't hold the words in any longer. "Why don't you just kill me then?!" she blurted.

"Oh, I will. And it will be a slow, painful, humiliating death," Amy told her with a layer of uncaring indifference in her voice. "But I won’t have enough time to do it properly before sunrise when my powers weaken, so I'm going to wait until the next nightfall to carry out the sentence." 

"What are you going to do with me until then?" Donna asked trying to keep the quaver out of her voice. "Are you going to lock me in the dungeon too?"

"No, I think having to stay here and look at all these pictures of me and Josh would be more of a punishment for you than my dungeon."

Well, she had a point there, Donna thought. In fact, being in this room really was beginning to affect her. Her head was beginning to throb mildly and her stomach was churning.

Before Donna could say anything else, the doors to Amy's office burst open and in trotted, Henry, Amy's basset hound.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

Henry started barking rapidly and Amy nodded as if she understood everything. Her face took on another crocodile-getting-ready-to-eat-the-bunny-rabbit smile.

"You're sure?" Henry barked again. "In the rose maze?" Again Henry barked. "Excellent! Show me where."

Without another word to Donna, Amy followed Henry out and with a snap of her fingers the doors slammed shut and Donna was alone.

While she was relieved Amy was gone, Donna hated the idea of having to stay in this room with all these pictures looking back at her. Moving to the door, she figured it couldn't hurt to try the knob. As she expected, she found it was locked. 

"Donna?"

It was Josh's voice. And unlike the whispered voice she'd heard before, this time it sounded like he was in the room. The door, now forgotten, Donna started to turn and expected to see him standing behind her. 

"Oh, Josh, thank God! I thought..."

Her heart plunged when she saw she was still alone. The feeling of disappointment hung on her heart like a stone and she had to force herself not to start crying.

"Donna!" Josh's voice came a little more insistently.

She circled around behind the desk and there she found a small computer. There on the monitor was Josh. He looked worried and like he'd been dragging his hands through his hair repeatedly.

"Josh!" Donna said, rushing over to the monitor. 

She could see he was struggling against something as if hands were holding him back. "No! Let go of me!" he said. 

"I'm here, Josh!" she yelled at the screen even though he apparently couldn't hear her. 

"But she needs me!" Josh insisted. 

"I do need you, Josh!" Donna said with tears of fear and frustration beginning to run down her face as the pain in her head worsened. "Please help me!"

The picture seemed to waver and then it was Amy's face replacing Josh's in the monitor. But this time, Amy's image had no problem hearing Donna.

"I'm here, Josh...help me, Josh..." Amy mocked her. "I'm weak...I'm a pathetic whiner, Josh..." Then she cackled hysterically as if she was the funniest person that had ever lived. 

Anger filled Donna and the continually worsening pain in her head sent her into a frenzy. With a vicious swipe, Donna sent the monitor crashing to the floor. The problem was, that it still worked and Amy continued to laugh and mock her.

Pain mixed with the echo of Amy's laughter was becoming a living thing in her head and she pressed her hands to her head to try and get some control.

“STOP IT!” she yelled.

Frantic now, her eyes landed on the pictures of Amy and Josh lining the walls. Every image of Amy seemed to join in the mocking until the room was spinning. With a scream, Donna charged at the nearest wall and started tearing at the pictures. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest when she saw that almost as soon as they hit the floor, the pictures floated back up and reattached themselves to the wall and the computer monitor righted itself. When she tried tearing the pictures into pieces, they only glued themselves back together and once again, resumed their original places on the wall. In every instance, Amy's images continued to cackle and mock her.

Horrified...she backed away from the wall. "God..." Donna pleaded, clutching her head. “Just leave me alone!”

Choking back tears, her back bumped up against the desk. The world tilted like some kind of crazy carnival ride and caused her legs to simply give up any pretense of being able to support her.

And sobbing openly, Donna slid to the floor.

**********  
"Donna!" Josh cried.

"Josh! You have to calm down," Sam told him as they watched the two naval corpsmen that served the White House as an onsite military version of paramedics trying to assess Donna's condition.

Josh struggled against Sam's restraining hands. "No! Let go of me!" 

"You need to give them room so they can take care of her," Sam said trying to reason with him. The problem was, Josh was worked up enough that he wasn't real big on being reasonable at the moment.

"But she needs me!" Josh insisted still trying to pull away. 

"JOSH!" Leo's voice cut through the room and snap the fight out of him, but his eyes never left Donna.

"Back here Leo!" Sam called.

Leo followed by the President and Mrs. Bartlet and two Secret Service agents hurried back to where Josh and Sam were watching. As Leo and the President stood with Josh and Sam, Abbey knelt down with the corpsmen, who were well aware she was a physician. Two marines came in a moment later carrying a stretcher.

"What are her vitals?" Abbey asked the corpsmen and then she listened to their answers before giving Donna a cursory exam. "I don't like it. Her vitals are too low.”

"What does that mean?" Josh demanded.

Abbey looked over her shoulder at Josh. "It means we need to get her to the hospital."

Turning back to the corpsmen, Abbey gave them an order to bandage her head and start an i.v. on Donna. 

She nodded at the two marines who were waiting with the stretcher. "As soon as they've got her ready, we need to transport her. Is there an ambulance waiting?"

One of the marines nodded. "Yes, ma'am. One was just pulling up in the portico when we came down here."

"Good, I'll follow you to the hospital," Abbey told them as she stood up.

"Is she going to be okay?" Josh asked brokenly as he continued to stare at Donna.

Turning to him, Abbey laid her hand on his shoulder. "We need to get her to the hospital to be sure, Josh," she said, not wanting to lie.

"Is she going to be OKAY?" Josh repeated, this time more desperately.

"I don't know, Josh," she said honestly. "They'll need to do x-rays and a CAT scan to know for sure. She may just have a concussion."

"But if that's all it is, wouldn't she be awake by now?" Josh made himself ask as they loaded Donna onto the stretches and belted her in place.

"Not necessarily. Head injuries work on their own time table," Abbey told him. "We'll know more when we run some tests."

"I want to go with her," Josh said with a steely resolve.

"There won't be room in the ambulance," Abbey told him. "But the Secret Service is having a car brought around for me to take to the hospital and you can ride with me."

"I'd like to come along too, if I could," Sam said.

Relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with an upset Josh and an injured Donna all on her own, Abbey smiled warmly. "Of course, you can come, Sam," she said. "You'd be a welcome addition."

**********  
Back in the witch's office, curled into a tight little ball with her eyes squeezed shut, Donna lay limp on the floor with a death grip on the ruby goldfish pendant. Having physical contact with the pendant had grounded her somehow and it had been the only thing that eased the pain in her head and stopped the sound of Amy's mocking voice. As each one had faded and the pictures had gone back to being simple pictures, Donna's sobs had begun to quiet, leaving her weak and exhausted. 

Almost detached from the whole thing, Donna dimly realized she felt terrible, physically terrible and vaguely she wondered if Amy hadn't already started killing her. Maybe it was some kind of poison. Amy had said she wanted Donna's death to be slow and painful and right now Donna could imagine this is what it would feel like. 

Rocking slightly, she didn't know how long she laid there. Time seemed to have no special meaning to her. Was it daybreak yet? There were no windows in the room so she couldn’t tell. What was happening to Zoey and Charlie? Had Sam, Leo and Toby found her note by now?

And what did any of that or anything else matter? Everything seemed to be locked in a hopeless limbo now. She was waiting now…waiting to see if she would live…if she would die…waiting to wake up from this dream that had become a nightmare. 

The first thing in what seemed like an eternity that seemed to stir her out of the state she was in, was the sound of many footsteps approaching in the hall outside the Amy’s office. Lacking the energy to get up, she remained where she was. If Amy was coming back to torment her some more, she wasn’t going to cooperate, she would merely go somewhere deeper inside herself than even this dream. Somewhere even Amy couldn't reach.

A place only Josh, the real Josh, had ever touched, even if he didn’t know it.

Voices and footsteps rolled through the room as the doors flew open and people rushed in. Donna was on the floor with the desk between her and the door so if even if she’d been interested, she couldn’t have seen who had entered.

“Where is she?!” A familiar voice demanded. It was a voice that did get Donna’s attention, if for no other reason than she was surprised to hear it and she slowly lifted her head. 

“How the hell should I know?” Amy’s callous voice shot back. “She’s probably hiding somewhere like a scared rabbit. Hey, Donna!" Amy called out. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" 

The thinly veiled threat was clear in the answer. “If you’ve hurt her…” the voice said.

“Don’t threaten me, CJ, you’re playing in my backyard now,” Amy snarled. “And we both know you have no power here.” 

“CJ, over here!” Sam’s voice exclaimed as he knelt down next to Donna. CJ, Toby and Leo appeared around the desk a few seconds later. 

Now dressed in the simple jeans and blue flowing shirt she’d been wearing during clone Josh’s ‘decontamination,’ CJ dropped down on the other side of her and brushed some hair away from Donna's tear stained face.

“What did you do to her?” CJ demanded of Amy who stood there taking in the whole scene with a smirk as if she was glad that Donna was in a heap on the floor. 

“I didn’t touch her,” Amy said honestly, but the glint in her eye told Donna she knew perfectly well about the mocking pictures and the computer monitor.

“I’m okay,” Donna said trying to keep the tremor out of her voice as Sam and CJ helped her sit up. “I was just having that pain in my head again.” 

Sam, CJ, Toby and Leo looked like they didn’t believed her, but they also didn’t comment.

Donna didn’t know if she was relieved or angry that they were there, but she was leaning toward angry.

“What are you all doing here?” she asked them.

Sam looked a little sheepish but Leo, Toby and CJ just looked annoyed. 

“We’re here to rescue you,” Toby said dryly. “Was that not obvious?”

Leo sighed and tried to explain. "We were coming after you and Amy caught us in the rose maze."

"You were coming after me?" Donna frowned. “But didn’t you find my note?”

“Yeah, we found it,” Sam told her, with a note of anger creeping into his voice. “Actually, I was the one who found it when I came in to check on you last night.” 

“But if you found it, why did you still come?” Donna persisted. 

“Because we agreed to do this together.” The note of anger in Sam’s voice turned to a symphony. “But instead of trusting us, letting us help you, you decided to be a hero and so we had to do things the hard way!”

The first finger of real guilt started to eat at Donna. "It wasn't that I didn't trust you guys," she said quietly. "I just wanted to protect you."

"Well, now we're returning the favor," Sam snapped. "So shut up and get used to it."

Donna had a moment of feeling ridiculously happy that her friends were there, even if they were prisoners just like she was.

"Okay, Sam," she said with a grin that she couldn't suppress. "But can I ask you guys one question?" 

Sam looked taken off guard by her question. "Uh, sure."

"When the four of you were planning to come in here after me, did you have a plan for, you know, not getting captured and/or getting out again?"

Sam opened his mouth to comment, then closed it again and looked like he was wishing for a handy hole to open up in the ground and swallow him. Toby, being Toby, picked up the ball and used it to throw Sam under the bus. 

"Sam thought up the plan. It was his idea."

"Oh, as if you had something better to offer," Sam finally managed to reply. 

"Maybe I could have come up with something if you hadn't been out the door like Dudley Do-Right before the rest of us could even blink," Toby said before turning back to Donna. "His plan wasn't so much of a plan as a knee-jerk reaction."

"It was too a plan!" Sam argued. "It was a good plan!"

"A good plan?!" Toby said in disbelief. "What part of it was good? The part where we got captured by a dog and a bunch of soldiers that look like rejects from a science fiction movie or the part where we didn't actually RESCUE anyone?!"

"Would you two shut up?” Leo snapped.

"My thoughts exactly!" Amy chimed in and made them all jump a little as if they'd all forgotten she was there...or that they were her prisoners. "God, I'd forgotten the fact that you guys never know when to shut up."

Ignoring Amy, Donna looked up at CJ. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly. "I figured after our little...disagreement in the rose maze you wouldn’t be speaking to me."

CJ smiled. "Well, I didn't want to be left out." She leaned in a little. "And I figured I had to come along with The Three Tenors here so they stayed out of trouble."

"How's that going for you so far, CJ?" Amy replied sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up you idiot!" CJ snapped.

Even Amy looked taken aback by her response. Donna couldn't help but be a little awed by CJ and the fact that she didn't seem a bit scared of Amy.

"Um, CJ, do you think is wise to make her mad? I'm facing a death sentence here, I don't want her to do the same to you."

CJ snorted. "She can't do it to me."

"She can't?" Donna asked.

Now CJ smirked. "Nope, it would blow up the space time continuum. It's a balance thing. There has to be good and evil." She gave Amy a pointed look. "I'm the good, of course."

"Yeah, but your powers don't work here, so even though I can't kill you, I can make your life miserable," Amy replied smugly.

"I wouldn't recommend it, in fact I think it would be best if you just let us...ALL of us, go right now," CJ said coolly. 

Amy crossed her arms defiantly. "And if I don't?"

CJ shrugged. "It's your funeral."

"Okay, I'm tired of listening to this," Amy snapped, but Donna saw just a hint of fear in her eyes before she covered it. "I hate to break up this cozy little reunion, but I think it's time all of you spent some quality time in my dungeon. Get up!"

Slowly Sam stood, but CJ remained kneeling by Donna. "Don't be scared of her Donna," CJ said quietly. "You need to stand up to her. Your fear gives her power."

"Get up...!" Amy screamed at CJ. "... NOW!!"

"Yeah, yeah," CJ said almost dismissively as she rose. Then she paused to look down at Donna. "Think about what I said."

"Take them away!" Amy yelled.

Donna watched the soldiers march them out and she tried not to let any hope she might be able to summon go with them. Amy was the last one to leave and pausing at the door, she sent Donna a look that was full of smug condescension. 

"No one's going to help you now, Donna. Your ass is mine," Amy said. "Why don't you think about that while you're cooling your heels in here all by yourself."

With that, she slammed the door and left Donna wondering what the hell she was supposed to do next.

**********  
Chapter 13

For the first few minutes after they’d left her alone, Donna merely sat, all but staring blankly at the wall. Although no coherent thoughts had formed yet, her mind was churning and ideas were slowly coalescing. 

Then, for the first time, Donna allowed herself to think about dying. She tried to keep her focus on the more objective side of the issue rather than the emotional. When she did, she found it wasn’t as scary a prospect as she’d thought.

Maybe in dying - here in this dream, hallucination, whatever it was - she'd wake up again, she considered. Isn't that how it happened in dreams sometimes? Like the ending of a mental game that would toss her back into reality. Maybe this whole thing was a manifestation of something that was really happening to her. On the other hand, she mused, there was a chance that if she died here, she would just...die. 

For some reason, her mind remembered an old science fiction movie she’d seen as a teenager. The crew of a spaceship had been caught on the event horizon of a black hole and they spent most of the movie desperately fighting to escape. After all, everyone knew that black holes were deadly gravity wells that sucked in and crushed everything from stellar matter to light so they would face certain death if they didn’t escape its pull. 

The kicker to the story had come at the end of the movie when their last effort to pull away had failed and they’d been pulled inside. To their amazement, they discovered the black hole was not an instrument of death, but a worm hole to another time, another place. So in truth, the only way to escape had been to face what they had feared the most.

Maybe her situation was upside down like that too.

If she wanted to wake up...wanted to get back to the life she knew...maybe she had to face what she feared...face Amy, even if that meant facing possible death in the process.

Then again, she supposed there was the very real possibility that whatever had happened to put her in this alternate reality, was killing or had already killed her and her mind just hadn’t caught up with the program yet. The idea that she could already be dead was oddly...compelling...even comforting. 

But while the recurring headaches were giving her some trouble and she felt kind of crummy in general, she didn’t FEEL dead. Then again she’d never been close to dying before and she didn’t have anything to compare it to. And who knew, maybe this strange trip she’d been on was some kind of out-of-body experience and it was her mind’s way of dealing with the physical reality of her body dying. People who had come back after being dead for brief moments did report some really strange things and this whole journey had definitely qualified as strange. 

Either way, she was beginning to feel a little stupid that she had been so upset earlier. If she was dead or dying already, or if dying in this world was what she had to do to wake up, Amy killing her was either a moot point or in a strange way, a positive thing.

Donna wiped at her still damp cheeks and CJ’s words came back to her. “Don't be scared of her...you need to stand up to her...your fear gives her power."

Donna let that thought tumble over in her mind as well. 

She’d never been one to stick up for herself much. For the most part, she was the ‘good girl,’ the cooperative one, the one who didn’t rock the boat. Well, except maybe with Josh. Talking back to him and giving him as good as he gave had almost come naturally to her. Unless of course they veered too close to talking about “them” and their relationship. In those cases, she’d never managed to get the words out.

And now that she was perhaps dead or dying, she found it sad and maybe a little foolish, not to mention regrettable, that she’d never told him how she felt about him. All that time wasted...even if he didn’t feel the same way about her, at least she would have known where she stood in that regard.

She also couldn’t help but wonder that if Josh...the real one, were here and she had another chance to tell him how she felt, would she waste the chance all over again? She'd like to think she wouldn’t.

If she was ever going to get that chance, she knew she had to do something. Given that all her friends and/or pretty much anyone else that might be able to rescue her from this situation were now in Amy’s dungeon, Donna realized that if she was going to save them and herself, she would have to do it on her own.

Donna took a long breath and then let it out again. Okay, she’d had her pity party and she’d had her little meltdown moment, but now it was time to get up off the mat. She was done being scared and she was definitely done cowering like a child during a thunderstorm. 

With slow, deliberate movements, she stood up and straightened her shirt. When she spoke, her whisper was a low growl. 

“Bring it on.”

*********  
“Josh, would you stop pacing before you have a stroke?” Sam said with exasperation as they waited in the ER waiting room at George Washington University Hospital.

“We should have heard something by now,” Josh muttered as he only paced faster and somehow managed to avoid stepping on the feet of the many people that occupied the waiting room with them. 

He didn’t like hospitals, especially this one, and the fact that Donna was now a resident in it did nothing to improve his opinion. 

“It’s only been two hours,” Sam pointed out. “Mrs. Bartlet said it would be a couple hours before they finished the tests on her.”

“Screw the tests," Josh snapped. "They need to be doing something to wake her up.”

Sam opened his mouth to say something...anything that might calm Josh down, but before he could formulate something, Dr. Bartlet entered the waiting room with her ever present Secret Service shadows trailing behind her. If she noticed the whispered comments by the other visitors in the waiting room who recognized her as the First Lady, she didn’t show it as she made a beeline for Josh and Sam.

“How is she?” Were the first words out of Josh’s mouth.

“She’s holding her own,” Abbey told him.

“What does that mean?” Josh demanded, obviously not liking that answer.

The heightened volume in his voice had practically everyone staring at them. Not exactly an optimal situation as far as the Secret Service was concerned. They’d already secured a more private area where they could wait, so Abbey took a hold of Josh’s arm. 

“Both of you, come with me,” she commanded, including Sam.

“Why can’t you tell me here?” Josh said as part of his brain that he was trying to suppress worried that the news was bad and she didn’t want to tell him in a public place for fear he’d make a scene.

“Please, Mr. Lyman,” one of her agents said with calm but steely authority.

“Josh, come with me and I’ll tell you what I know,” she said in a voice that she usually reserved for one of her daughters when they were upset and she was trying to get through to them. 

It must have worked, because Josh went with her like a docile, if somewhat bewildered child.

Sam immediately recognized the room she led them to as the one he and practically everyone else in the president’s senior staff had waited in the night Josh and the President had been shot at Rosslyn. He had an unexpected and oddly visceral reaction to being back in it and it made his stomach churn uneasily. 

Abbey motioned for the agents to wait out in the hall and as soon as the doors were closed, Josh hit her with the first question.

"Is she awake?" he asked.

Taking a really good look at him for the first time, Abbey frowned at his pallor. She’d seen him pacing, but even taking that and his worry for Donna into consideration, he shouldn’t be sweating so much and he shouldn’t be quite so pale.

"Uh, Josh, why don't you sit down," she urged.

"Why does everyone keep trying to make me sit down?!" He demanded. 

Normally, she knew he would never speak to her like that. Her knee-jerk reaction was to snap back at him, but aside from her concerns over his health, she could see in his eyes that he was consumed with concern for Donna. 

"Josh...if you'll just sit down I'll tell you..." she said, trying to take a different tack with him.

"I don’t want to sit down!" he shot back. "I just want to know what the hell is wrong with Donna!"

"Well, I can tell you what's going to be wrong with her," Abbey said.

Josh looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean 'going' to be wrong with her?"

“She's going to be pretty damn upset," Abbey said dryly. "Because as Zoey would say, you look like death on Triscuit."

Josh blinked in surprise. "I'm fine..." he tried.

Abbey continued over him in a soft voice that had gone steely. "And when she wakes up and finds out that you've worked yourself into a hypertensive episode, and you're a patient in this hospital right along with her, she's going to get out of her bed and kick your ass...and probably mine for letting it happen."

"But..." Josh said blinking again.

"Now unless you want to me to get Sam, my agents, and a couple of orderlies involved, sit down in a damn chair and I'll tell you about Donna."

"Okay," Josh said with a defeated sigh as he slumped down in a chair. Actually, he did feel kind of crappy. "I just...she has to be okay." 

The annoyance ebbed out of Abbey. "I know, Josh." Opening her medical bag, she took out her BP cuff and a stethoscope. "Take off your jacket."

Josh frowned. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to check your vitals."

"But I'm fine," he argued again.

"Humor me," she said smoothly. "I'll tell you about Donna while I check you over. Now take your jacket off and roll up your sleeve." 

Josh wanted to argue but knowing Dr. Bartlet that way he did, he realized he didn't have much of a chance. Plus if humoring her meant she'd tell him about Donna, then it would be worth it.

"When can I see her?" he asked slipping off his jacket.

“They're just finishing up her tests," Abbey told him. "When they're done, they'll move her to a room and you can see her then."

He rolled up his sleeve and Abbey wrapped the BP cuff around his bicep. "Why is it taking so long?" Josh asked her.

"They decided to add a couple more tests," she said as she pumped up the pressure on the BP cuff.

Josh didn't like the sound of that. "Why?"

"The CT scan was inconclusive so they added an MRI."

"What do you mean it was inconclusive?"

Abbey was quiet for a moment as she read the display and frowned. "The CT scan didn't show anything significant, but the length of time she's been unconscious is a concern," she said almost absently as she took his pulse.

"A concern?"

"Yes..." she said removing the BP cuff. "Josh, have you been taking your blood pressure meds?" 

Josh ignored her question in favor of his own. "Why is it a concern?" he repeated.

Knowing she was going to have to answer him before he'd answer her, she sighed and locked her eyes on his so he'd know she was being straight with him. "She has a severe concussion, Josh. In addition to the lump and cut on her forehead that she got from the falling shelf, there's also a sizeable lump on the back of her head, which we assume she got when she hit the concrete floor." When Josh paled even more, she laid her hand on his arm. "But there was no sign on the CT scan of a skull fracture or bleeding in her brain."

"That's a good thing though, right?" Sam put in.

Abbey nodded. "Yes, it's a very good thing. But the concern comes because even as bad as her concussion is, she should have woken up by now. While it's not unheard of for people with her type of injury to be out this long, it is unusual. So the doctors wanted to do an MRI to verify nothing has been missed in the CT scan."

Josh tried to absorb that. There wasn't much comfort in what she was saying. While the news wasn't bad, it wasn't exactly good either. "So when is she going to wake up?"

"I just don't know, Josh, it's really up to Donna now," she said with a sigh. "If nothing shows up on the MRI, my guess would be sometime in the next 12 hours."

"When she wakes up, is she going to be okay?"

"I have no reason to think otherwise," she told him. "Her injuries are serious but I see no reason why there should be any permanent damage. She just needs to wake up." She gave him a long look. "Honestly, Josh, right now I'm more worried about you."

Again, Josh blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"Your blood pressure is through the roof. Given that and your color, and the fact that you're sweating when you shouldn't be tells me you're very close to having a hypertensive crisis. If you get to that point and you don't have a stroke or a heart attack first, you're going to find your ass in a hospital bed."

He knew she didn't make the threat lightly and she wouldn't hesitate to put in him a hospital bed. "But I'm fine," he kept insisting.

"Okay, let's say I believe you," she began in a voice that said she clearly didn't. "I'm still waiting for an answer to my earlier question."

Josh looked at her blankly. "What question was that?"

"Have you been taking your blood pressure meds?" she asked referring to the medication Josh had been taking since Rosslyn to help control his blood pressure.

"Yeah," he mumbled dragging a hand through his hair.

She gave him an assessing stare, that he imagined she used regularly on the president.

"Okay, fine, I usually take them," he admitted.

"Usually is not good enough, Josh!" she admonished. "Blood pressure meds need to be taken regularly for them to work," she said in frustration. "When did you take them last?"

"A few days ago...last week I guess," he grumbled. "I've been a little busy."

She pursed her lips. "When aren't you busy? And I'm sure that the hunt for a new VP hasn't been causing you any stress." She sighed. "I swear, Josh, you're worse than Jed. You need a keeper."

"Donna's my keeper," he said quietly. "And it's not her fault about the meds. I told her I took them."

Abbey studied him. After Rosslyn, when she practically saw Donna WILL Josh to live and get better, she knew there was something there, but when nothing progressed between them, she thought maybe she’d been mistaken. Being the power player that both Amy and Josh were, they seemed like a natural fit and she'd done what she could to nudge them together. But it hadn’t taken her long to see what a mistake that had been. They were too much alike...too driven to ever actually make each other happy. And while Josh and Donna still hadn't gotten their act together, it was glaringly obvious that they belonged together. If anything good came out of Donna being injured, Abbey hoped it would be that they stopped dancing around each other.

"Well, when she's feeling better, she and I are going to have a little talk," Abbey promised.

Josh didn't like the sound of that. "Great, now both of you are going to be ganging up on me," he muttered.

"Whatever it takes, Josh," Abbey said with a little smirk. "But for right now, you're going to tell me what meds you're taking, I'll go get you a dose and you're going to try and calm down." 

Josh stared back at her, his emotions written all over his face. "I’ll take the meds, but I won't be able to calm down until Donna's out of the woods."

**********  
Just as she'd expected, Donna spent most of the day alone in Amy's office. But that was okay because it gave her time to think, to plan and to get herself ready for what was coming. Blessedly, this time the pictures and the computer monitor remained quiet. Idly, Donna wondered if that was because it was day-time and Amy's powers were weaker.

Since there were no windows in the room and she wasn't wearing a watch, she didn't know what time it was. Eventually though, she thought it had to be getting late because the energy in the room began to change. Almost like it was becoming charged with electricity. It reminded her of ghost stories when the night neared the 'witching hour.' Given that Amy was the 'witch' in this case, it was going to be a literal example of the idea, which Donna found strangely funny. She had to be getting punchy from lack of sleep.

Then, hearing a rush of feet and raised voices outside the door, Donna knew the moment had arrived. Taking a deep breath, she positioned herself near the door as the knob began to turn.

"Get ready, Donna," Amy's voice came above the din of all the others. "Because it's time..." she said gleefully as she pushed the door open, but she stopped short when she saw Donna standing there. "...to play."

"Hello, Amy," Donna said with a placid coolness.

Amy seemed to get over her surprise quickly and a smirk slid into place. "I brought an audience...bring them in!" she commanded. "I wanted witnesses so anyone who dares to defy me will know what to expect."

Donna smiled as Amy's guards started marching people in. "Good."

Amy was frowning now. "Good?"

"Yes, I think witnesses are just what we need."

The frown turned to bafflement. "And why is that?"

Before she could say anything in reply, she was enveloped in a hug. "Donna, my darling!" CJ said. "Are you okay?"

Donna hugged her back. "I'm fine."

CJ pulled back and looked at her. The faint hint of concern in her eyes faded. "Yes, I can see you are," CJ said with a little smile as she softly added. "Well, this should be fun."

Behind CJ, Donna could see that Amy had indeed brought everyone back from the dungeon. Charlie, Zoey, Sam, Toby and Leo were all filing into the room along with a good number of Amy's guards. 

Like a clown car in reverse, the room seemed to grown in size exponentially to accommodate what looked to Donna to be a ridiculous amount of people. All of her friends were gathered nearby in a loose semi-circle at the leading edge of the crowd. In a clear attempt to isolate her, Amy took up a position between Donna and everyone else. 

"So, have you had a chance to think about your fate?" Amy asked in an overly theatrical voice that was probably supposed to be threatening but to Donna it just sounded stupid.

"Yes, I have."

"And what do you have to say to the fact that I'm going to kill you?"

With a practiced, casual air Donna had mentally rehearsed all day, she leaned back against the desk. "Go ahead."

Amy blinked in surprise. "What did you say?"

Donna crossed her arms over her chest. "Go ahead...kill me."

Amy was literally speechless for a moment. "I'll do it," she promised, but the insecurity in her voice didn't really back up her words. “I swear I will.”

"I know you'll try," Donna conceded.

Amy narrowed her eyes at Donna. "What do you think you're trying to do?"

Donna shrugged. "Nothing, I'm just waiting for you to kill me."

"You are?" 

"Yep," Donna said studying her nails. "Any-time you're ready."

Clearly, Amy hadn't expected this reaction. "I um...what?"

Donna shrugged. "Go ahead...do your worst."

“And that’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” Amy asked suspiciously.

“Isn’t that what you wanted?” Donna asked.

Amy looked clearly flustered. “Well, yes...I mean, no...I mean...I’m confused.”

“She’s not the only one,” Leo mumbled.

“Seems pretty clear to me,” Donna said. “You want to kill me and I’m waiting for you to do it.”

“Well, this wasn’t quite how I pictured it,” Amy complained as she stood there, her eyes going from Donna and then scanning the assembled crowd before going back to Donna with a frown. “You’re supposed to be scared.”

“Oh, I was scared...” Donna said honestly. “...but I’m not scared anymore.”

Surprised, Amy took a step back. A range of emotions went across her face; bafflement, fear, frustration and then finally a sort of dawning comprehension. 

“Wait...” Amy said as the conviction grew in her voice. “...you’re trying to trick me.”

Donna shook her head. “No...there’s no trick.”

Amy frowned. “Then why...?”

“Because I think I finally figured it out,” Donna began.

“Figured what out?”

“You can’t kill me,” Donna said calmly.

“How the hell do you figure that?” Amy demanded to know.

“The way I see it, the only reason you have power over me is because I choose to give it to you,” Donna said coolly as she and Amy circled each other. 

“Bullshit,” Amy snarled. “I take my own power - it has nothing to do with you.”

“Yeah, just keep telling yourself that,” Donna said and she could see fear behind the anger in Amy’s eyes. “Your mistake was letting me have time to think about it.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that even if you manage to kill me here, I’ll still survive in some form. I’ll wake up, I’ll cross over, whatever you want to call it. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that even if you get Josh for the short term because I’m gone, he and I are meant to be together,” Donna said with utter confidence. She'd done a lot of thinking that day. “And I’m willing to wait for him for as long as it takes.”

Now Amy did look scared and Donna thought she may be imagining things, but she could swear that Amy got just a little bit smaller. 

“Wait, it’s the necklace isn’t it?” Amy guessed. “You remembered what CJ said about it protecting you.” 

“That thought had occurred to me, yes,” Donna admitted. 

Anger flashed back into Amy’s eyes. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you, Little Miss College Dropout?” she sneered. “If you didn’t have that necklace to hide behind, then you’d be scared.”

Donna sighed in annoyance. “No, Amy, I wouldn’t.”

Deliberately, she closed her hand over the pendant.

“Donna, don’t!” Sam warned. 

Not heeding his words, Donna yanked and broke the chain. The necklace slid off and dangled from her hand. Walking over to her, Donna handed it to CJ. “Keep that safe for me, CJ.” 

“You’re even more stupid than I thought,” Amy taunted as she and Donna circled each other again. “Now, you’ve got nothing to protect you,” she said and Donna could see the tips of Amy’s fingers had started to glow. “This will be quicker than I’d planned, but it will be worth it to be rid of you!”

“NO!!” Sam, Leo and Toby screamed simultaneously.

Amy whipped her hands toward Donna and the glow flashed into blinding white electrical bolts that arched right at Donna. The smell of ozone and sulfur filled the room as the bolts arched toward her, but to everyone but Donna's surprise they weakened and fizzled out before they ever reached her.

Amy frowned, but tried a second time and then a third, with no better result. The whole thing was little more than a light show. “What the hell?!!!” Amy screamed. "Without the necklace you shouldn't be protected!"

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Donna said.

“No, you’re not,” CJ threw in.

Donna grinned. “I know, but it seemed like the thing to say.”

“But you’re supposed to be DEAD!!” Amy screeched. "You had nothing to protect you!" 

“I tried to tell you before,” Donna said patiently. “Necklace or no necklace, I’m not afraid of you anymore. You have no power over me.”

Amy all but shook with rage and desperation. “There are other ways to hurt you!” she yelled lifting her hands again. “I’ll kill your friends! You’ll have to watch them die!”

Moving quickly, Donna stepped between Amy and her assembled friends and her voice was dead calm when she spoke. “No you won’t. I won’t let you hurt them.” 

With a frustrated scream, Amy threw out her hands again and sent more electric bolts flying toward the crowd. Donna simply stretched out her hand and the bolts fell at her feet. 

Amy shrieked in frustration as she realized her powers were worthless against Donna. 

“Whoa...” CJ breathed from behind her.

“How did you do that?” Sam asked. “Did you get magical powers or something while we were in the dungeon?”

Donna shook her head. “No, there’s nothing magical about it. Once I stopped being afraid of dying and being afraid of her, it occurred to me that this is MY dream, and I had to start controlling it rather than letting it control me.” 

“That’s my girl,” CJ said proudly.

Fury alive on her face, Amy almost shook with rage. But oddly, as before, Donna could have sworn that she had shrunk slightly.

“Guards...kill her!!!” she screamed. 

In response, the guards stood only stood as if their feet were frozen to the floor. Only one of them seemed to still retain any will or courage to speak up.

“How, mistress?! If YOU can’t defeat her...”

“It doesn’t always take magic...” she said, snapping her fingers.

The problem was...nothing happened, well nothing much anyway. Usually when Amy snapped her fingers to do some bit of magic, it made a loud cracking sound, but now it was more of a sickly popping sound.

Frowning hard, she tried again and this time small kitchen knives appeared in the hands of about a dozen of her guards.

"Stab her!!!" Amy yelled.

Again, the guards didn't seem to know what to do. A couple of them gripped the knives experimentally in their hands. Others looked bewildered or dropped the knives as if they were red hot.

"I said...STAB HER!!" Amy demanded.

"You can't even do THAT for yourself, can you?" Donna said with a shake of her head. "You always have to get someone else to do your dirty work."

"Is it just me...or is she shrinking?" Sam asked CJ.

"Oh, yeah, she is," CJ answered back.

Sam was absolutely right. If she had to guess, Donna would have said that Amy was only about four feet high now and she was continuing to get smaller. 

"YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT I TELL YOU!" Amy wailed at the guards, and she actually stomped her foot in frustration, but the guards continued to ignore her as if she'd said nothing at all.

"She looks like an angry ten year old," Sam said referring to the fact that Amy was now only about three feet tall. As she shrank, her magical powers seemed to decrease proportionally.

Suddenly, Amy seemed to realize that she was on her own. "Stop staring at me!" she yelled.

Like an animal trapped into a corner, Amy's desperation overrode her caution and rushing forward, she snatched up one of the knives the guards had dropped.

"I don't need them!" she said. "I'll kill you myself."

Lifting the knife high into the air, or as high as she could being so short, Amy ran at Donna with a scream.

And jerked to a stop when someone grabbed her upraised arm. "That's enough," CJ said as she squeezed Amy's wrist hard enough to have her dropping the knife. "You're done. Now you can leave on your own or we can lock you in your own dungeon, it's up to you."

Amy looked around, her eyes darting over all the defiant faces that dared her to object or try something else. Wrenching her arm out of CJs grasp, she started backing toward the door.

"I don't need you! I don't need any of you!" she yelled in a small voice. "I've got plans...you'll see...I'll make you all see!" 

With that, she turned and ran from the room with her dog Henry following closely on her heels.

Tension evaporated from the room and Donna found herself surrounded by her friends as the rest of the guards and other assorted people cheered around them.

"Have you ever thought about running for office?" CJ asked her over the din. "That was some show you just put on."

"A girl does what she can," Donna said with a grin. "Now why don't we go find Amy's bike and go back to see the Wizard? As much fun as this has been, I'm ready to go home."

**********  
Chapter 14

Sam nearly collided with Abbey and her security detail as he stepped out of Donna’s hospital room. “Sorry, ma’am, I was just headed down to get some coffee.”

Abbey gave him a tired smile. She’d been up most of the night overseeing things with Donna and by extension, trying to take care of Josh. “Sam, given how long we've known each other and the fact that you’ve been away from D.C. for almost two years now, don’t you think you could stop calling me ma’am?”

He gave her an equally tired smile. “Old habits...” he said. “...Dr. Bartlet.”

“Well, ‘Dr. Bartlet’ is an improvement anyway,” she commented with a little sigh. “At least it doesn’t make me feel 108 years old.” Her eyes slid toward the open door to Donna’s room. “How is he?”

Sam sighed. “The same. He answers if you ask him something, but mostly he just sits there in that chair staring at her like he can will her to wake up.”

“Then that’s something they have in common,” Abbey said. “Because I saw her do the same thing to him when he was in intensive care after being shot.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sam said with a sigh.

“Of course what neither of them realizes is that when they do that, anyone with eyes can see how much they love each other,” she added quietly.

Sam blinked in surprise. He was so unfamiliar with someone actually saying that there was more between Josh and Donna than they themselves would acknowledge, it took him off guard. But he found that he was too tired and too worried about both of them to even try and say Mrs. Bartlet was wrong...especially when he knew she wasn’t. 

“They’re both pretty good at denial,” he said instead. 

“This is very true,” she replied.

He supposed this conversation between them should have felt odd, but it didn’t. In fact, it was kind of a relief to talk about it like this.

“The building they both work in doesn’t help either,” he added.

She nodded. “Well, I may just have to have a talk with my husband about that.”

“Better you than me, ma’am,” Sam said with a little smile. “Well, I’m going to get that coffee. Can I bring you anything?”

“No, thank you, Sam. I’m going to check on them and then head back to the White House for a bit.” 

“All right, ma’am...Dr. Bartlet,” he amended. “It was good to see you.”

“Stop by and see us before you head back for California, Sam,” Abbey told him. “I know the President would love to see you.”

“I will. Thank you, ma’am...” he said with an apologetic grin. “Like I said...old habits.”

With smile of her own, Abbey headed into Donna’s room. The sun had just come up outside and the first fingers of light were beginning to filter in through the curtains, but the room was still largely in shadow. 

Donna’s bed was on the far side of the room and was the only one occupied in the two-bed room. Josh was seated in a chair between the two beds with his back to the door. Although the TV was on and tuned to CNN with the volume on low, he appeared to ignore it. As she walked over to him, Abbey could see his focus was solely on Donna. 

Gently, she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Josh? How are you doing?"

With considerable effort, Josh looked up at her. "I'm fine."

Abbey recognized it as his standard answer to the question, but since he seemed much calmer than he had the last time she'd seen him, she didn't push it. "I just wanted to check on you both before I went back to the White House."

"There hasn't been any change," he told her listlessly as he looked back at Donna. "She hasn't moved since they brought her up here."

Following Josh's gaze, Abbey studied Donna. The cut on her forehead had taken a number of stitches and the resulting incision and the lump was now hidden behind a large gauze bandage. The bruised skin visible around the bandage had turned an ugly shade of purple that had also spread lower and given her a partial black eye.

Carefully, Abbey checked Donna's pupils and her breathing, then she read the display on the i.v. stand by the bed and turned back to Josh.

"Her body needs to rest, Josh; it's the best way for it to heal itself," Abbey said, trying to be reassuring. "But all her vitals have stabilized and as you already know none of the tests we ran show anything to be concerned about. I really do think she'll wake up in the next couple of hours."

Josh's only response was to glance up at Abbey with a nod and then look back at Donna.

"Josh, you've been up all night. You must be exhausted," Abbey tried. "Why don't you let Sam take you home so you can get some rest? I'll have someone call you the minute she starts coming out of it." 

"No, I'm fine," Josh said, his eyes never leaving Donna. "I want to be here when she wakes up."

Abbey knew it was useless to try and argue with him. Gently, she reached down and held his wrist. He didn't resist...actually, he didn't even respond as she took his pulse and laid her hand on his chest to check his breathing. Both seemed to be where they should be and while he was still a little pale, his color was much better than it had been earlier so she didn't worry about taking his blood pressure. Plus she knew Sam was here to keep tabs on him if anything happened.

"Okay, well, I'd better be going," she told him. "But the hospital will let me know if anything changes and I can be back here in a few minutes if you need me."

He glanced up at her again. "Thanks for everything, Mrs. B."

Given the level of respect he'd always shown her and Jed, Josh didn't call her "Mrs. B" very often, but she knew that for him it was a term of endearment and the truth was she liked it.

"You're welcome, Josh."

Giving his shoulder a squeeze, Abbey turned and walked out.

For a few moments, Josh just sat there, listening to the sound of Donna's breathing. Why wasn't she waking up? It was such a simple thing and yet, right now, he'd give everything he owned if she'd just open those beautiful blue eyes and look at him. 

Reaching out, he took her hand and held it in both of his. "Where are you?" he said softly. "Can you hear me?"

Finding her hand a little colder than he liked, he rubbed it gently. "I'd like to think that...wherever you are...you can hear me." He couldn't stop himself from touching his lips to her knuckles. "If so, I want you to know that I need you here with me and it's time for you to wake up." 

He stared down at her hand. So delicate and pale, he thought. And looking so right being held in his. Before he knew it, the words were tumbling softly out of his mouth.

"Speaking of being heard, you know, everyone thinks that I don't hear them...including Sam and Mrs. B...but I do. I know what they say. That I'm in denial or some other kind of crap like that. But I know exactly how I feel about you. I've known for a long time. I just can't seem to find the words or the courage to tell you. You're my best friend, Donna, and I'd do anything for you...I hope you know that...you HAVE know that after all we've been through." He sighed a little. "Even if that means saving you from the ugly things and cocktail party jokes that would be made about you because of a relationship with me."

Immeasurably tired, he fell quiet for a few moments. "I'm in love with you," he admitted quietly. "I don't even know how you'd feel about that...and maybe that's part of the reason I've never told you." He smiled absently. "Knowing my luck, you'd probably slap me and run as far as you could in the other direction. If that happened and I lost you...lost your friendship...it would be like losing a piece of myself. I don't want to risk that."

Letting out a breath, he gave her hand a squeeze. "So for right now, we're just going to concentrate on getting you well and out of that bed. The rest...well, the rest will just have to wait." 

**********  
The sun was just coming up everyone began to stream out of the East Wing. The building that had seemed so foreboding the night Donna had snuck inside, was now a simple gleaming white just like the buildings in Eagle City. 

Leading the pack of people, Donna, CJ, and Sam walked Amy's bike along the edge of the rose maze, with Leo, Toby, Zoey and Charlie right behind them. It was only blind luck that they'd even found the bike. Zoey had told them that when Amy wasn't riding it, she shrank it down and wore it on a bracelet. If that had been the case, the bike would have gone with Amy when she ran off.

But apparently with all that had been going on the night before, Amy hadn't thought to shrink it again and they found it leaning against the building just outside the kitchen.

"So you must be feeling pretty good, right about now," CJ said with a grin as they walked back toward Eagle City.

"Well, I am feeling pretty happy about getting rid of Amy," Donna replied. "But actually, I feel kind of crummy otherwise." 

"What do you mean?" CJ said with a frown.

Donna rubbed a bit at her forehead. "I feel a little...fuzzy and my head's really starting to bother me. I'd kill for a large bottle of Advil."

CJ looked at her with concern. "We'll see what we can dig up once we get back to the city."

"You know, I'm a little surprised that I didn't wake up when I defeated Amy," Donna said.

"I wondered about that too," Sam agreed.

"It's really not such big secret," CJ said. "You haven't..."

"I swear CJ, if you say I haven't learned what I need to learn or I don't know what I'm supposed to know, I'm going to scream," Donna said in annoyance.

"I wasn't going to say it..." CJ replied, then mumbled. "...but that's what it is."

Donna decided to ignore her and hoped that the Wizard could help her put it all together. "You know what else?"

"What?"

"I have the weirdest feeling..." Donna said. "I don't know why, but it feels like Josh is really close by. Almost like I'm going to turn a corner and he'll be standing there."

"Really?" CJ said. "Are you sure you're not just sensing clone Josh?"

Donna considered that. "No, it's not clone Josh. When I saw clone Josh back in the city he didn't give me the same feeling."

They didn't have much more of a chance to discuss it because they'd reached the entrance to Eagle City. Apparently aware of their approach, Mrs. Landingham was standing by the open gate beaming at them.

"Well, you all look pleased with yourselves," she said by way of greeting. 

"It was thing of beauty, Mrs. Landingham," Sam said.

She gave them all a bemused look. "I'm sure, it was," she said, holding out a large tin. "You all look hungry; have a cookie."

Everyone began to file in, but Donna paused at the gate. "Thank you, Mrs. Landingham," she said taking a cookie.

"So...did you find what you were looking for?" Mrs. Landingham asked her.

"Yep, I got the bike," Donna replied as she chewed thoughtfully on the cookie.

"But that's not really what you were looking for, was it?" Mrs. Landingham said quietly.

Donna met her eyes levelly. "Well, I thought it was, but no, I guess it really wasn't."

"So I ask you again, did you find what you were looking for?"

Donna thought about the time she'd spent alone in Amy's office. "Yes, I think I did."

Mrs. Landingham seemed happy with her answer and she smiled. "Have another cookie then, dear. When I heard you were coming I cleared the Wizard's schedule. He's waiting to see you."

Oddly feeling like it would be the last one she would ever have, Donna took another cookie and then impulsively hugged the older woman. "Thank you for everything, Mrs. Landingham," she whispered fighting back sudden tears. "I won't forget you."

Mrs. Landingham patted her gently on the back and then pulled away. "I know you won't, dear," she said with a kind smile. "Now you better go inside. You don't want to keep the Wizard waiting."

Donna took a breath to soothe away the tears and then nodded as she pushed the bike forward through the gate and into the city. When she reached the Wizard's outer office, she found Sam, Toby, Leo and CJ waiting for her and the door to the Wizard' inner sanctum open. Just as before it looked like the inside of President Bartlet's barn in New Hampshire.

"We didn't want to go in without you," CJ explained.

Donna gave them a smile. "Okay, then, let's get the show on the road."

The five of them walked through the door and into the barn with Sam bringing up the end. Even with Amy no longer a factor, he suspiciously eyed the hay on the floor as if daring it to come anywhere close to him.

The Wizard's head popped up on the TV. "Well, well...look what the cat dragged in!" he said to them with a grin.

"I brought the bike like I promised," Donna told him.

"I can see that," he said excitedly. "I could hardly believe it when Mrs. Landingham told me, that's why I told her to send you right..."

"OH...MY...GOD!!!" came an angry voice from behind them.

They all whipped around to see a very annoyed look Abbey Bartlet standing in the open doorway. She was wearing the same elegant evening gown she had been wearing the night of her birthday party when Donna had found out she was Canadian.

"Um, the five of you just ignore the crazy woman," the Wizard told them.

"Jethro!" she bellowed sweeping into the barn. "Just what the hell are you doing?"

Now the Wizard looked a little scared. "I uh, nothing, I was just talking."

"The Wizard is helping us," Donna supplied.

"The Wizard?!" Abbey asked. "Jed, I thought we talked about this. You promised to get rid of this big screen TV and stop calling yourself the Wizard! It's not your JOB anymore!"

"I know, but..."

Obviously, Abbey wasn't having any of it. "I swear, are you five years old? I can see I'm going to have another talk with Mrs. Landingham, she has to stop encouraging you," she told him. "I go away for a few days and I come back to find you've developed delusions of grandeur!!"

Walking over to a non-descript door set into the far wall, she flung it open. There stood a rather surprised looking Jed Bartlet. In front of him was the large video camera he'd been using to transmit his image to the wide screen TV in the barn. Unlike the image they'd been seeing on the TV, he was much older. More like the age of the President Bartlet Donna was used to seeing. He was also leaning heavily on a cane with some kind of cast on his foot.

"Um, hi," he waved at them weakly.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" Abbey demanded.

"You look lovely in that dress?" he tried.

"Don't try and use that old routine with me," Abbey said as she stalked into the room he was in, which turned out to be a fairly good replica of Leo's office.

"Okay, look, I tried to stop doing it," he attempted to defend himself as they all filed in behind Abbey. "I even told Mrs. Landingham to tell everyone I was out of town or busy, but CJ and Congress keep telling people to come and see me." 

Abbey turned a questioning gaze on CJ. "What?! I just though he'd just get her talking. I didn't know he'd be putting on this whole show!" CJ argued. "And I certainly didn't know he'd send her off to AMY'S for that DAMN bike!"

"But I HAD to send her over there!" Jed insisted. "I thought it would help her learn what she needed to learn and someone had to get that bike. The damn witch kept running over my toe! How do you think I got this cast on my foot?!" He banged the end of the cane against the side of the cast.

The raised voices were doing nothing to help Donna's headache. "Okay, everyone just calm down!" she said as she turned to this reality's Jed and Abbey Bartlet. "Now I'm sorry to get between you two about the Wizard thing..." Then she focused her attention on the Wizard...Jed...the president...whoever the hell he was here. "...but what I need to know is can you or can you not help us like you promised?"

There was a dead silence in the room as Donna and the Wizard stared each other down. 

"Yes, Donna, I can do what I promised. I'm nothing if not a man of my word." He lifted his hand. "Don't start Abbey, I know I broke my word to you," he conceded. "But I did it because she needed help...they all needed my help." 

Abbey stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. "All right," she finally said. "I'll leave you to it then," she said, walking to the door where she paused. "But this discussion is not over, I'll be waiting for you upstairs...and don't even think about making me come look for you."

"Yes, dear," he said with a resigned sigh as she swept out of the office. "I guess I better get on with it. The longer she has to wait, the madder she's going to be."

Leaning heavily on his cane, Jed hobbled over to the desk. "But first things, first. Claudia Jean, I believe you gave this to me for safe keeping," he said opening a drawer, he took out her wand handed it to her. "I'm now returning it to you."

"Thank you, sir," CJ said. As she took the wand back, she pointed it toward herself and the simple jeans and blue shirt she was wearing were replaced with the fancy gown she'd had on the first time Donna had seen her. "Ah, much better. I really wanted to get that smell of dungeon off me." She adjusted her tiara slightly. "Now I'm off to see a certain red-headed reporter while there's still time."

Donna was sorry to see her go. "Thanks for everything, CJ."

CJ gave her a quick hug. "Donna my darling, you sure can throw one hell of a party."

Donna smiled as they pulled apart. "It was easy. I just asked myself 'What Would CJ Do?"

CJ grinned. "Smart girl."

Then she lifted the skirt of her long dress so she wouldn't step on it and walked out. The sounds of her cursing the high heeled sandals she’d put back on trailed after her. 

Jed studied the four of them. "Now Toby, I believe you said you wanted a family."

Toby looked surprised and he shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Uh, yes, sir, but I don't see..."

Jed opened another drawer in the desk and took out a small metal object. "Try this," he said handing it over to Toby.

Toby stared at the object. "A can opener, sir? You have to be kidding."

"Not at all. That will get you out of that suit and Mrs. Landingham has a change of clothes for you."

"Well, sir, as much as I appreciate getting out of this metal straight jacket, I don't see how..."

"You'll need the change of clothes so you can meet Andi for dinner."

"Dinner?" Toby asked baffled. "But she's barely talking to me."

"Well, I spoke to her on your behalf and she's willing to have dinner with you," he smiled. "The rest is up to you."

Toby seemed to consider the information. "Part of me wants to bash you over the head with something for interfering, but at this point I need all the help I can get so I won't, you know, look a gift horse in the mouth."

Jed smiled. "Get going."

"Yes, sir," Toby said with a smile as he started from the room. He paused as he passed Donna. "Thank you." 

Donna smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Go get her, Toby."

"Well, our group is getting smaller and smaller," Jed said with a little grin as Toby left. "Okay, Leo, you're up."

"God, help me," Leo muttered. 

"You know, if you want to stay in that getup, it's fine with me," Jed told him.

Leo held up his hand in surrender. "Okay, okay, sorry. If you can do something to get me out of this stupid thing, I'll be eternally grateful."

"Well, I can hardly pass up an opportunity to have you in my debt..." he said opening another drawer in the desk and drew out a large pair of very sharp silver scissors. "Here you go."

Leo stared at the scissors in disbelief. "What am I supposed to do with those?" he asked.

"You're a smart guy, Leo, can't you figure it out?"

"But sir..." Leo said in frustration. "I don't think..."

"I figured you could, you know, use them to cut the coat off," Jed supplied.

Taking the scissors, Leo frowned. "Just like that?"

Jed nodded. "Just like that."

"Here let me try," Donna volunteered.

Leo handed her the scissors and she started on his left sleeve. The scissors went right through the fabric and in very short order, Leo was shrugging off the bulk of the coat. He tried to brush to brush at the fuzz and lint that liberally covered his elegant dark suit. 

"I can't believe it was that easy." 

"Did anyone else try to cut it off?" Jed asked him.

"No," Leo said looking as sheepish as Leo ever did. "I guess...what can I say, I don't think that anyone else thought of it...including me. Now if you don't mind, sir, I'd like to go see if Mrs. Landingham has a lint brush and then I’m going to get back to work.

Jed nodded and couldn't help but grin a little. "Go."

Just as Toby had done, Leo paused to speak to Donna on his way out. "Take it easy, kid,” he said, patting her on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Leo,” she replied as he strode out of the room. 

Donna, Jed and Sam all shared a smile. "Sam, Sam, Sam..." Jed began.

"Yes, sir?"

"It appears that it's your turn."

"So are you going to pull a scalpel out of the desk and give me a lobotomy?" Sam said. "No, wait, that's right, you can't do that because I already lost my mind when I ran for Congress."

"Sam..." Donna tried.

"Aw, Sam, you have to stop thinking of it like that!" Jed admonished. "You stood up, you took one for the team."

"Got screwed with my pants on, is more like it," Sam muttered.

Jed nodded. "I'll admit that I can see why you feel that way, but what you really did was get a lot of good experience in the political process...”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘good’ experience,” Sam correct.

“Oh, fair enough, but you can't tell me that the whole thing didn't make you humble."

"Okay, I will concede that," Sam said.

"Good, because humility is a trait you're going to need when dealing with people in your new job."

Sam frowned. "What new job?"

"The one you've just started."

"I have no idea what you're talking about right now," Sam said. "No one said anything to me about a new job."

"When Abbey said this wasn't my job anymore, she wasn't kidding," he said. "I'm retiring, Sam and I've decided you're going to take my place." 

Sam blinked rapidly. "Wait, what?"

Jed smirked. "You heard me."

"No, I...there was a thing..." Sam stumbled. "...I didn't...I heard a buzzing..."

Exchanging glances with Donna, Jed smiled. "You're the new Wizard of Eagle City."

Donna enveloped a shocked and speechless Sam. "Congratulations, Sam!" 

Sam looked over her shoulder at Jed. "I'm getting screwed with my pants on again, aren't I?"

"Nah, you'll be great," Jed told him. "Just listen to Mrs. Landingham, she's the brains behind the operation anyway."

"Well, that's good to know, since I'm going to literally have no idea what I'm doing," Sam said as he and Donna pulled apart. "Speaking of which...I think I'm just gonna...go...you know, talk to her."

In a daze, Sam wandered out of the office, leaving Donna and Jed alone. Before either of them could say anything, Sam came charging back and snatched Donna up in a hug.

"Sorry, it took me a second to get it together,” he told her. “I just wanted to say...I had fun. I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner."

"Well, it's been interesting anyway," she said with a chuckle as she hugged him tightly. "It was good to see you, Sam. I've missed you."

"I missed you too," he said as he pulled back. 

"Thanks for everything, Sam."

"No, Donna, thank you." Then he nodded at Jed and walked out. 

Jed walked over and closed the office door. “My foot’s killing me, Donna, do you mind if we have a seat?”

“Not at all, sir,” she said. Out of simple habit, she waited until he sat down first before she did the same. 

“Donna...” he began as he sat down on the couch and propped his cast up on the coffee table. “You don’t need to call me ‘sir’ here. I not even the Wizard here anymore, I’m just a guy.”

She gave him a little grin. “I’ll keep that in mind...sir.”

He chuckled at that. “Okay, okay. Now...what are we going to do about you?” 

“Well, I’m hoping you can help me get things figured out so I can wake up.”

He gave her a long look. “Why do you think you can’t wake up?”

“I wish I knew!” she said in frustration. “Like I told Sam and CJ, I was a little surprised that I didn’t wake up when I chased off Amy, I thought maybe that would be a trigger or something. Of course, CJ just gave me the reply she always does.”

“And what’s that?”

She let out a sigh. “That I haven’t learned something I’m supposed to learn or something like that.”

He cocked his head slightly. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe you have learned it and you just don’t realize it.”

She considered that. “Well, I guess that could be true.”

“So...” he began. “What do you know now that you didn’t know before I sent you off to Amy’s?”

Donna thought long and hard before she answered. “To not be afraid of who you are and do not be afraid to stand up for yourself, because in the end that fear gives others power over you.”

“Good,” he nodded thoughtfully. “What else?”

“That Amy was not indestructible and like most bullies, when you confront her, she backs down.”

“Also good, go on,” he urged.

It was getting harder for Donna to find an answer. “I also figured out that this is my dream and I had to take control of it, rather than it controlling me.”

He nodded. “That’s right. This world is yours, it’s all about you and about you figuring out what you can do...what you WANT to do. You created it...you created us.” 

“I guess I never thought of it that in quite that way,” she said. “But I guess there’s a good life lesson in there too about taking control of my life, rather than letting it control me.”

Clearly pleased, he nodded. “Yes, exactly, I knew you’d figure it out.”

She waited for him to say something else, when he didn’t, she frowned. “And....” she prompted.

He shrugged. “And nothing, that’s it.”

“That’s what I was supposed to learn?” she said. "That I need to take control of my life, instead of it taking control of me?"

“Pretty much.”

“It's that easy?”

He smiled. “What? You were expecting the secret to the universe?”

“No, but...wait...” she began, feeling frustrated. “If I figured it out, why haven’t I woken up?”

“Because you’re still scared,” he said simply.

"Toby said that to me a long time ago, but I don't feel scared," she argued. 

"That's because you're not scared here. You've worked out things here and you're queen of all you survey. What scares you is what you have to face when you wake up."

"No, it doesn't," she said, but even as she did, she knew he was right. "Does it?"

"Donna..." Jed coaxed her. "Tell me, when you wake up...what will you have to do?"

Not sure what answer he was looking for, she frowned. "Go back to my life, back to work, sleep in my own bed, not be in this place..." she grinned. "At least, I won't have to deal with Amy the wicked witch..." 

The truth struck her like a slap. "Oh, God, no," she said pressing her hand to the renewed throbbing in her head. If she'd been standing she would have swayed. "I'm going to have to deal with Amy going after Josh again."

Jed nodded, but said nothing.

"And I'll have to deal with Josh being all...under Amy's spell." She pressed her face into her hands. "I don't think I can do it. Not again."

"Then I think you know what you have to do."

Dropping her hands, she looked at him hopelessly. "I should quit...I have to quit."

He shook his head. "Donna, Donna...you disappoint me," he chided. "Quitting isn't the answer."

Donna's stomach jittered. "But I can't...I can't tell him!" she blurted.

"Tell him what?" he asked gently.

Her eyes filled with tears. "That I love him...I've always loved him," she whispered.

Clearly, her statement didn't surprise him. "Then why not tell him?"

"What if he doesn't feel the same way?" she argued. "It would make things awkward between us. Josh doesn't do awkward well. It would kill our friendship and I just couldn't handle that."

"Donna, aren't you tired of always waiting for the other shoe to drop?" Jed asked as he laid his hand on her arm. "If you tell him at least then you'd know. And if by some stunning surprise, he doesn't feel the same way you do and things sour between you, you could move on and stop living in fear of him finding out how you feel."

Tears trailed down her face as she stared down at her hands. As much as it hurt to even consider the possibility of leaving Josh, Donna knew he was right. 

She was tired.

Tired of worrying about Amy, tired of putting on her it-doesn't-matter face when Josh chose someone else over her, tired of denying what she felt, tired of going on dates with gomer after gomer in an attempt to try to misdirect him, and yes, most of all she was tired of worrying that he would finally see through her, while also worrying that he never would. 

Swallowing hard, she swiped at her damp cheeks and lifted her eyes to his. "Yes..." she whispered. "I have to tell him."

Jed stared at her intently. "You don't have to make it sound like a death sentence, Donna; the truth can also set you free."

"I know," she said a little wetly, although her tears had stopped. "I just dread pulling the Band-Aid off."

He smiled then. "Well, unless I've completely misjudged him, I don't think you'll have to worry about how Josh will react to what you have to say."

"You really think so?" she said with a note of hope in her voice.

Jed nodded. "I really do."

Looking over his shoulder, Donna sniffed and stared out the only window in the room with a frown. Rather then the sunny morning she expected to see, outside the window it was a formless grey, almost like a sudden fog had moved in. It wasn’t scary or even foreboding, it was just...blank.

“What’s with the weird weather outside?" she asked. "I didn’t know it even got foggy here.”

Jed followed her gaze. “It’s all right Donna, don’t worry, this was always going to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“It's not fog. This place...me, everyone you’ve met while you’ve been here, have served their purpose,” he said. “You can’t wake up and still be here. Since you made this place, without you, it fades. The closer you get to waking up, the more things begin to fade.”

Donna felt a cross between sadness and panic, as if what he was saying meant her leaving was some kind of death sentence for this world and it was her fault. 

“But...no...what about Sam being the Wizard? What about Toby and Andi? What about Mrs. Bartlet? What about...”

“Donna, Donna...” he said patting her hand with a fatherly calm that somehow managed to soothe her. “It’s okay. We don’t cease to exist. It’s more like we’re moving on without you. We shift from the reality you know now and back into your imagination. We still live on there and in your memory and in your dreams."

Donna felt a little jolt of dread go through her at the idea of waking up, but it was coated with a layer of excitement too. As she watched, even the walls of the room began to fade into the same grayness.

With the moments slipping away before her eyes, Donna did something that she almost certainly would never have done to the President Bartlet she knew. She threw her arms around him impulsively and hugged him tightly. 

"I won't forget you...any of you."

"Be happy, Donna."

The words echoed in her head as the room faded and she found herself floating in a warm, gray cocoon. Then even the gray faded and she slid into a welcoming blackness.

**********  
Chapter 15

Sam had stepped out to make a phone call, leaving Josh alone with Donna again. It had been an hour since the First Lady had left and there still had been no change in Donna’s condition, no flicker that she might be waking up.

Leaning forward, Josh dropped his head into his hands. He didn't know how much more of this waiting he could take.

His head snapped up again when he heard Donna make the smallest of groans.

"Donna?" he said with quiet hope as he saw her eyelids start to move.

"Josh?" she murmured, even though her eyes were still closed.

With his heart in his throat, he slowly stood so it would be easier for her to see him when she did open her eyes. "I'm right here, Donna." He took her hand. "Come on now, open your eyes."

As if reacting to the sound of his voice, she turned her face toward him. While he practically held his breath, he watched Donna's eyes slowly flutter open. He could see her struggle a little to focus on his face, but when she did and her blue eyes locked with his, it was like the sun coming out after a long, dark storm.

"Josh?" she whispered hoarsely.

He was so thrilled to see her awake, part of him wanted to run through the halls shouting the good news. Luckily for everyone in the hospital, he opted instead to sit down carefully on the edge of her bed. 

"Hey, you finally decided to come back to us," he said giving her hand a squeeze.

"What happened?"

He smiled at her and something that had been knotted in his chest began to loosen. "What happened was you found a way to turn filing into a full contact sport."

Given the lingering disorientation she was still feeling, Donna didn’t quite get it and only frowned at his attempt at humor. "What?"

He sobered. "You were down in the basement and a shelving unit and a bunch of boxes fell on you."

“I don’t remember...” Slowly, she lifted a hand to her forehead and winced as her fingers encountered the bandage. "Is that why my head feels like someone's been banging on it with a hammer?" she whispered.

"Yeah, you've got a pretty severe concussion and the doctors were a little worried because you were out so long..." he squeezed her hand again and let out a breath. "...but now that you're awake, everything's going to be just fine."

"Okay," she said trying to absorb all the information. 

"Can I get you anything?" he asked her. "Some water or something?"

Donna didn't say answer him. Instead, she watched him with an odd expression that turned both expectant and a little...worried. It was a look that stirred something inside him, but he didn't know why.

"What?" he asked trying to decide if he should be worried by her expression. "Is something wrong?"

"No..." she began very quietly. "I have to tell you something."

Not expecting that response, he frowned. "Um, sure, what is it?"

Her lips moved but he couldn't make out what she said. "What?" he said leaning closer with his ear near her mouth. "I couldn't hear you."

She let out a little sigh and the feeling of her breath on his cheek threatened to send a tremor through him but he managed to suppress it...just barely.

Before he could even recover from the feeling of her breath against his skin, her soft voice teased his ear. 

"I love you, Josh," she whispered simply. 

His surprise was so complete, Josh's head automatically snapped around and he found their faces were only a couple of inches apart. His eyes locked on hers and he opened his mouth to say something...anything...what he didn't know. But he didn't have a chance to form any kind of reply before he felt her hand take hold of the front of his dress shirt and pull him in closer. 

Then her mouth was on his and he couldn't process anything but the feeling of kissing her. Her kisses were slow and druggingly thorough. In the all the times he'd let himself imagine kissing her, it had been good, but even those fantasies had never come close to the level of what he was feeling now. God, she really was amazing.

Now that he'd had a chance to get over the initial surprise of her actions, Josh's hand moved to cup her cheek and he began to kiss her back in earnest, their tongues dueling almost feverishly. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before Donna's grip on his shirt loosened and her responsive mouth slowed under his.

Josh pulled back to look at her and found that her eyes were closed and she had slipped under again. Of course this time her mouth was slightly swollen from their kisses, making her look sexy as hell even with all the bruises dotting her face.

"Donna?" he whispered but the only response he got was a slight movement of her head as she settled back against the pillow with a soft little sigh.

Letting out a breath, Josh tried to get himself under control. It was a good thing that the chair was close because he all but slid off the bed and melted into it. Sam chose that minute to come back into the room.

He saw expression on Josh's face. "What's wrong? Did something happen while I was gone?"

"Uh, yeah..." Josh frowned and shook his head. "I mean no."

"Josh? You okay?” Sam said with some concern.

Josh looked at Donna for a moment, then looked up at Sam. "She woke up and talked to me for a few minutes," he said, still a little dazed.

Sam brightened. "That's great!"

Josh's words came out in a rush. "She also said she loved me and then she kissed me."

Sam blinked at him. "Uh, oh-kay," he answered cautiously. "What did you do?”

Josh was so thrown off by what had happened, he didn’t really pick up on the fact that Sam didn’t seem terribly surprised by his revelation. 

“What kind of dumb-ass question is that?!” he said. “I kissed her back!”

Sam tried to suppress a grin and almost succeeded. “And how was it?"

"What do you mean how was it...I don't..." Josh let out another breath and suddenly smiled at Sam. "It was freakin' amazing."

"That's great, Josh," Sam said happy that Josh seemed to be surprised but pleased by the current turn of events. "Now...what are you going to do about it?"

Frowning thoughtfully, Josh shifted his gaze back to Donna. Sam’s question reminded him of the one-sided conversation he’d had with Donna while she’d still been out. It had been easier for him to say he would protect her from the fallout over a relationship with him when he hadn’t known she really did have feelings for him...or how great kissing her felt.

On the other hand, Josh couldn’t help but wonder if her declaration and the kissing weren’t the result of some concussion-induced delirium. Something she wouldn’t even remember doing when she woke up the next time. He couldn’t very well hold her to something she said or did when she wasn’t really responsible for her actions.

Josh sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Honestly, Sam, I have no idea.”

*********  
When Donna woke the next time - at least for something more than one of the nurses doing a neuro check - she was alone. Her head still throbbed like someone had been playing soccer with it, but the pain was a bit more bearable than when she’d first woken up and her head felt clearer. How long it had been since she’d woken up the first time, she couldn't say. All she did know was that the only time her head hadn’t hurt had been when she’d kissed Josh. When she’d kissed him, she hadn’t been able to feel anything but his mouth on hers and...

Wait...

Oh, God...she’d kissed Josh.

OH, GOD...she’d told Josh she loved him!

Pressing her hands to her cheeks, she was sure they were red with embarrassment.

What must he think of her? He’d probably run away as far and as fast as possible and that’s why he wasn’t here.

The big question that kept going through her mind was...why? Why had she done it?

Trying to get her brain to start working, she searched her sluggish mind for an answer. Slowly, it started to come back to her in pieces.

The things she'd experienced while she'd been unconscious...yes, that had to be it.

Sam, Toby, Leo, CJ and the president - they'd all been there...after a fashion...as well as a host of others she knew on her journey through the bizarro land of Oz. The fact that she had also stood up to Amy floated back into her memory and she couldn’t help but allow herself a little smirk of satisfaction over that one. She also recalled that Josh HADN’T been there and how much she’d missed him, which made her miss him all the more now. She'd only had a few minutes with him, and as amazing as those minutes had been, now he was gone again. Who knew when, or if, he was coming back?

Unfortunately, her memory of the dream wasn’t like trying to recall a movie she’d just seen. She actually remembered more when she didn't try too hard. When she really made an effort to pull up the small details, they slipped away. 

She did remember making a promise, a number of them actually. To remember those she’d met during her journey, including Mrs. Landingham and even more importantly, to tell Josh how she felt about him before another moment passed. 

And she supposed that because of that promise, when she'd woken up for the first time and had seen Josh sitting by her bed, it was as if the filter that normally kept her from saying the words she always wanted to say had been missing. Without that filter and before she even knew what she was doing, she was telling him she loved him. The kiss had merely been the next instinctive step in that process.

She brushed her fingers over her lips. As embarrassed as she was now over putting Josh in that position, she couldn't help but remember the kiss...no, kisses...with a touch of awe. 

Due to her concussion, it was a little fuzzy around the edges, but there was no way she was ever going to forget what kissing him had felt like. His mouth had been firm on hers and as he'd responded his tongue had invaded her mouth with an almost fevered tenderness. She remembered the feeling of his hand on her cheek and the fact that he apparently hadn't shaved for some time. Even in her battered and weakened condition, the slightly scratchy texture of his face had been subtlety arousing. 

Right then and there, as she lay in that hospital bed, Donna resolved to herself that no matter what happened...whatever the outcome was for her and Josh, she was NOT going to regret what she’d done for one second.

But...she thought with a sigh, setting all that aside, the big question now was how did Josh feel about what she'd done? He'd certainly seemed to be fine with it in the moment, but now that the moment had passed...where was he?

The door to her room opened and her hopes that it was Josh were dashed when Sam walked in - but she was also happy to see a familiar face. Then suddenly she had the oddest image of him pop into her head. Something about him hanging off a billboard and having an argument with him about straw vs. hay. 

"Donna?"

With a blink, she tried to give herself a mental shake. "Ah, what?"

"You okay? You were looking at me kind of funny just then."

“Sorry,” she said. "I guess I'm still a little fuzzy."

“Well, that's certainly understandable,” he answered. “How are you feeling?”

“My head still hurts but at least it doesn’t feel like it’s going to go flying off any second.”

“That's good. We were pretty worried about you there for a while.”

“Oh? Who’s we?” she said casually, hoping to get a bit of info about Josh.

“Everyone,” Sam said. “Me, Josh, Leo, CJ, the president and Mrs. Bartlet...the whole White House was in an uproar after Josh and I found you in the basement.”

"I'm sorry I worried all of you," she said. "Actually I'm still kind of fuzzy on what happened. I think Josh said something about boxes falling on me."

"Yeah, it looks like a shelving unit in the basement failed and fell over on you."

Donna tried to search her memory, but came up with nothing. "I just don't remember."

"Well, I think that happens sometimes with head injuries," Sam said sympathetically.

"Did the doctor say how long I'd have to be here?" she asked him.

"No, but I’m guessing they were waiting for you to wake up before they decided that. They’ll probably be by later to see you."

Donna nodded and their conversation spilled over into a slightly awkward silence. As it dragged on, Sam gave her an unreadable look. She had the feeling he wanted to ask her something but didn’t know how.

“Sam?” she prompted.

“I um...” he began. “Josh said to tell you he’ll be back later...in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t wondering,” she lied. Of course she was wondering.

The look he was giving her only intensified. “Donna...” he chided. “This is me you’re talking to, remember? The one you finally spilled your guts to about Josh. The one you call when he says or does something boneheaded. You don’t have to dance around the truth. I could tell when I walked in that you we disappointed it was me and not him.” 

“Don’t be silly, of course I was happy to see you...” she tried weakly, then gave up the pretence and sighed. “Okay, I was kind of wondering where he was.” A ribbon of panic danced along her spine. “You haven’t...you didn’t tell him...what I told you, did you?”

“No, of course not. I promised I wouldn’t.” He couldn’t help but give her a little smirk. “Although apparently I didn’t need to since you took care of that yourself this morning.”

“So I did do it,” she said with a little wince. “I wasn’t sure if it was just another hallucination or not.” 

“Well, if it was a hallucination, then Josh had it too.”

“So you weren't here when I did it?” She didn't remember him being in the room when she woke up the first time. Of course, her thoughts and focus had pretty much been on Josh at the time.

“No, but he filled in the blanks when I got back.”

“So he said something to you about it?” she asked hesitantly. She was a little afraid of his response.

“Well, I had to prod him about it a little but, yeah, he told me.”

“What did he say?” she asked feeling like she was back in high school - but not caring if it meant she’d find out Josh’s reaction. 

“Don’t you think you should ask him?” Sam hedged.

She let out a nervous little laugh. “Honestly, Sam, I’m a little scared to.”

“You shouldn’t be, you know,” he told her. “I have a feeling you’ll like his reaction. I just think you should hear it from him.” He sighed. “You know, that’s the whole problem with you two, you talk about anything and everything but what’s going on between you.”

She considered what he said and had to agree that he was right, she and Josh had perfected the art of misdirection to its highest level. 

“I know,” she conceded.

“Well, don’t you think it’s time you stopped doing that?” he asked.

"Amy wants him back," Donna blurted before she'd even processed the thought.

Sam blinked in surprise. "What?"

Donna picked at the corner of her blanket. "She told me...I remember...right before I got hurt...she wants him back."

Sam studied her for a minute. "No," he said emphatically shaking his head. "Even Josh wouldn't be stupid enough to go into a second round of Amy."

But she wasn't convinced. "Amy sounded pretty determined.”

"Donna...seriously, it doesn’t matter," Sam argued. “I know Josh has kind of a blind spot where she’s concerned, but given your history with him and what I saw on his face when he told me about what happened morning, you have NOTHING to worry about.”

Not entirely convinced, but too tired to argue, she let it go. “By the way, where is Josh?” she asked quietly.

Sam knew she was shifting the subject, but didn’t push the issue. “He had to go back to the White House,” he said. “He didn’t want to, but Leo’s been all but screaming at him to get something done on the VP selection. The president wants to get moving on replacing Hoynes and asks for three names by the end of the day.”

With everything that had happened to her, she'd all but forgotten about the VP selection process that Josh had been hip deep in.

"I should have remembered that he'd be working on getting a new VP," she said running her hand gently over her forehead. “Of course he’d be busy.”

Sam noted the fact that her voice was starting to sound as if she was starting to fade. The doctors said that she would probably want to sleep quite a bit over the next couple of days.

"Give yourself a break, Donna. You've been through a lot in the last 24 hours."

She felt her eyes getting heavy again. “I suppose...” she said absently.

“Tell you what, how about I give Josh a call and you can talk to him on the phone? Or better yet, I’ll have him come back over here. 

Donna was losing the battle to keep her eyes open. “No, no, don’t bother him. He’s doing something important.”

“You’re important to him too, Donna.”

She gave him a small, tired smile. “You’re a good friend, Sam.”

“It’s the truth,” he said, trying to get through to her.

“If you say so,” she said with sleepy honesty. “But please don’t call him. I’ll just talk to him...when he has time.”

“Okay, I won’t call him, but at the risk of being a yenta, I want you to promise me you WILL talk to him about what happened this morning.”

Her eyes were drifting closed now, and one of her last conscious thoughts was that she’d been making a lot of promises lately and at some point, she going to have to follow through with them. But for now, she was just too tired. 

Her voice was a murmur as she slid under. “All right, Sam, I promise.”

TBC


	4. The Wizard of West Wing: Chapters 16-18

*********  
Chapter 16

Much later that evening, Donna lay in her hospital bed, watching TV...or more accurately staring somewhat blankly at it. Given the late hour, the hospital had gotten quiet and she was alone with only the flickering light from the TV playing over her features. 

She'd woken up again about the time they brought in what they laughingly called 'dinner,' which had consisted of Jell-O and a fairly vile liquid masquerading as beef broth. She'd managed to get about half of both of them down, no small feat given that she'd continued to be somewhat nauseous since she'd woken up the first time. 

Her only motivation to eat at all was the fact that the nurse had told her that keeping food down was the first step in her being released from the hospital. About the same time they'd brought her dinner tray, Sam had left to go back to his hotel, get cleaned up and eat some dinner of his own. He promised to come back and see her in the morning.

Unfortunately, unlike the other times she'd woken up, this time Donna hadn't been able to go back to sleep. She'd tried a couple of times, but hadn't had any luck. She wasn't exactly wide awake but she wasn't really sleepy. It was an odd sort of grey area between sleep and waking.

When she wasn't obsessing over Josh's continued absence, she tried to watch what passed for TV. Since it only got a limited number of channels, she settled on CNN. The VP situation was all they could talk about. 

They analyzed Hoynes' resignation to death and everyone from the local dog catcher to a former Supreme Court Justice nominee was being floated for his replacement. To make matters just that much more complicated, she learned from them that House Speaker, Glenallen Walken, had dropped dead of a heart attack about the same time she'd been injured, and Republican Jeff Haffley had been named as the new House Speaker. Donna knew from past experience that Josh was not a big fan of Haffley's.

With all that was going on and even if Sam was telling the truth and Josh wasn't avoiding her, Donna figured she'd be lucky if she saw Josh anytime in the next week. The idea left her feeling empty...she was glad to be back from her dream, but the thing, the person she'd wanted so badly the whole time she'd been gone still wasn't with her.

She was so deep in thought, she was caught off guard when the door to her room opened and a visitor took a tentative step into the room, then started to back out.

"Hello?" Donna prompted making the figure stop in their tracks.

The TV didn't give enough light to see who it was and so Donna pressed a button on the bed rail to mute the TV and another to have the light at the head of her bed flicker into life. The sudden light made her still throbbing head throb that much more, but she ignored it.

And with a sinking heart, Donna realized who her visitor was.

"Amy?"

"Hey, Donna," Amy said with false brightness as she walked over to the bed.

"What are you doing here?" Donna asked.

Even Amy looked surprise by Donna's unusual bluntness but she pasted on a smile. "I heard about your accident and came to see how you're doing."

***********  
Riding up in the elevator, Josh leaned tiredly against the back wall. Even though he'd gone by his apartment, taken a quick shower, shaved and changed clothes before coming to the hospital, he still hadn't been able to shake the fatigue that plagued him. But given the fact that he hadn't slept last night while he was up worrying about Donna and would probably be up late talking to her tonight, he didn't think he'd be catching up on sleep anytime soon. 

But grabbing some sleep and seeing her in the morning just wasn't an option. He needed to talk to her...if she was awake, that is. He'd called the hospital several times, but the nurses had informed him she'd been sleeping, and this was the first time he'd been able to escape the White House. But he had to talk to her, he knew that now. Once, it had been easy to pretend that there was nothing between them but friendship, but after what had happened that morning his eyes had been opened and there was no closing them now.

He looked down at the flowers in his hands. It had been no minor feat to find an open florist at that time of night, but he'd wanted something nicer than a random bunch of flowers from the grocery store or the hospital gift shop. He just hoped she liked the two dozen red roses he'd picked out.

Dragging a tired hand through his still damp hair, Josh pushed away from the wall as the elevator doors opened and he stepped out. Walking down the corridor, he stopped just outside Donna's room. He couldn't believe how nervous he was. This was Donna. He'd known her for nearly six years, she probably knew him better than anyone else, but the territory they were about to cover was uncharted and he didn't want to screw it up.

Taking a breath, he took a few steps forward and lifted his hand to push open the door.

And his hand froze in mid-air when he heard the voices coming from inside her room. A moment later he realized that Donna's visitor was - Amy.

With a frown, he stood where he was and listened.

**********  
Back in her room, Donna didn't buy Amy's concern for her well-being and she simply stared at her. It was kind of weird, but she didn't find Amy nearly as intimidating as she once had. She supposed it was a little like that old saying about picturing people in their underwear when you were nervous about speaking in front of them. After seeing Amy as the Wicked Witch and defeating her, facing her like this didn't seem like such a big deal.

"After our little conversation the other night, don't you think it's time we drop the pleasantries, Amy?" Donna said.

Amy cocked her at Donna as if she was trying to figure something out. Then a look of almost a begrudging respect came into her eyes. 

"Okay, fine. I was looking for Josh," Amy admitted unapologetically. "They said he left his office an hour ago and I assumed he was here."

"Well, you can see he's not," she said. "I don't know where he is."

Amy stared at her. "Tell me, something, Donna. Since we're being so honest, did you really have an 'accident' or is this some pathetic attempt to get Josh's attention?"

"That's it. You've got me," Donna said snarkily. "I pulled a shelving unit down on my head and put myself in the hospital just to get Josh's attention. Amy, I don't have to scheme to get Josh's attention."

"Well, now that you mention it, neither do I," Amy shot back. "I've never had a problem getting him to come when I call." 

Donna felt a flash of anger that Amy would talk about Josh that way...like he was some dog she'd trained. But instead of arguing the point with her, she decided it was time they got down to the heart of the matter.

"Amy do you remember the question you asked me in the bullpen the other night?"

"You mean if you’re in love with Josh?"

Out in the hall, Josh blinked in surprised and just barely managed to keep himself from rushing in there.

"That’s right," Donna said.

As if she thought she was about to score some big point, Amy smirked. "Yeah, I remember...I also remember you never answered me."

"You’re right, I didn’t answer you. I didn’t...I don’t think you deserve an answer, but I’m going to give you one anyway. Yes, I’m in love with him." 

Out in the hall, Josh grinned like a lunatic.

Donna cocked her head at Amy as she continued. "But you know, I think a better question might be, are YOU in love with Josh?"

The somewhat satisfied smirk that had started to develop on Amy’s face vanished. Clearly, the question took her by surprise. 

"It’s not as fun being on the receiving end of that question, is it?" Donna said before Amy could say anything. "From where I’m sitting, you don’t love him. You love his power and his position and probably the sex. But you don’t love HIM. You don’t love the man, but I do." 

Amy managed a nasty smile. “You’re so naïve, Donna. You think it’s all about hearts and flowers. Josh is a politician. He doesn’t want someone like that...someone like you. For him to get ahead in this town he wants and needs someone who is his equal, a player who will be the other half of the power couple he could - wants to - represent. That's something I can give him that you can't."

Donna considered that. "Yes, I suppose you can, and while you do, you’ll use him, just like you use everyone. You told me that you want him back, but you want him because he’s a tool to you, a link, a contact to help you further whatever agenda you are pushing at any given moment. And when you’re done with him or he no longer suits your purposes, you’ll toss him out like yesterday’s newspaper." Donna folded her hands in her lap. "If tomorrow he decided he wanted to give up working in politics or the White House, I’d still love him. I’d love him if he was the milkman or the garbage collector or a high school history teacher. That's what I can offer him that you can't."

Amy laughed a little in disbelief. "That's only because, in your naïvete, you think he’s perfect and you’ve put him up on this pedestal like he’s some kind of god."

"You're wrong,” Donna said quietly. “Josh is probably one of the most flawed people I know. He can be arrogant and childish and at times absolutely unbearable...but he’s also intelligent and funny and kind and has a great empathy for people who are suffering and a keen sense of right and wrong. He’ll stand up for someone or something he believes in, even when it costs him."

Amy didn't seem to know what to say to that, so Donna continued.

"The difference between us, Amy, is that while I love him because he is flawed, you love that he’s your 'in' with the Washington elite."

Amy shrugged indifferently. “That may be, but it doesn’t matter. I know just how to keep him coming back for more.”

Now it was Donna's turn to be at a loss for words. She could hardly argue with what Amy was saying. 

Amy pressed her advantage. "You know if I tell him what we talked about and that you’re in love with him, I bet he'll throw you out on your ear."

Well, since Josh hadn't been back to see her since she'd kissed and told him she loved him, there was a very real chance that Amy was right. The funny thing was since Donna herself had already let the cat out of the bag so to speak, she found that really wasn't scared of Amy's threats anymore.

“He already knows. I told him this morning."

“You did?” Again, Amy looked like Donna had taken her by surprise. “What did he say?”

Donna blinked and tried to keep her heart from shattering into a million pieces. “He didn’t say anything. He got called back to the White House before he could.”

That self-satisfied smirk flowed back onto Amy’s face like a evil tide. “Well, I think that speaks volumes.”

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Amy," Josh said stepping into the room. He just couldn't stand by and passively listen to their conversation anymore. 

"Josh..." Donna said with a little gasp of surprise.

"Hey J," Amy said, trying to keep her cool even though she was also surprised by his sudden entrance.

He walked past Amy to the side of Donna's bed. "Hi," he said smiling down at her. "These are for you," he said laying the roses in her lap.

Overwhelmed, Donna stared down at the beautiful flowers and felt tears well in her eyes. "They're beautiful," she whispered as she pressed her face into the fragrant blooms and then looked up at him. "Thank you."

He smiled at her again. "I'm sorry I couldn't get back here sooner." Then he turned to Amy who was watching them with avid interest and leveled his trademark glare at her. "I think you should go, Amy."

"This is all very touching, J, but have you thought about what you're doing?" she asked. "Half of Washington already thinks you've been sleeping together, this will only prove them right."

"I told you to go," Josh growled it this time. 

"You know what they'll say about her...about both of you," Amy tried.

"Let them talk," Josh defended easily. "But I'd better not hear about it or I'll make it my life's work to crush them...and that includes you."

"It won't look good for the president," she tried next. "In the middle of this VP fight, the last thing the administration needs is a sex scandal."

"Thanks for the spin strategy, but I'm already on it," Josh said. "The White House is covered."

"But J..." Amy sputtered. 

"I'll say it once more - it's time for you to go," Josh said without hesitation. "Donna needs her rest."

Amy glared at Donna, then shot a last look at Josh. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

With that, she turned and stalked out. Josh didn't wait until she'd cleared the door before he'd turned back to Donna. "How you doin'?" he asked.

"I don't know what to say," she said still clutching the roses to her chest.

He grinned. "Well, I must be doing something right, I've rendered you speechless."

"I can't believe you said all that to her," Donna managed with more tears welling in her eyes.

"Me? I can't believe everything you said to her," he said with a touch of awe and admiration in his voice.

"You heard that?"

"Yeah, sorry, I was out in the hall and I heard you two talking."

Donna felt her cheeks heat up again. "How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough," he replied simply. "You said some pretty amazing things."

For half a second her instinct was to deny or misdirect or shrug it off, but too much had happened and she was tired of regretting the things she didn't say.

"I meant them," she said as a tear trailed down her cheek.

Gently cupping her cheek, he brushed the tear away with his thumb. "I know you did."

She leaned into his touch. "God, you are a sight for sore eyes."

"Yeah, sorry, I had to get some work done on the VP vetting." He cocked his head as he watched her study him. "Donna," he grinned. "I was only gone for a few hours."

"It seems like I was gone a lot longer than that," she said, blinking away another tear. "At least it felt like I was."

"Yeah," he sighed. "It felt like that to me, too."

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "What?" he asked her

"Nothing, I just...I was thinking about Sam. He...I was pretty mortified when I woke up and remembered my...revealing conversation with you this morning. He told me I shouldn't worry about it, but I didn't know whether to believe him or not. I'm glad he was right."

"What he told me was right too," Josh laid a hand over hers. "We need to talk about what happened this morning...I mean, when you're feeling better, but...we've got to talk about it."

"Yeah," she sighed, already feeling herself begin to drift after the prolonged exchange with Amy and Josh. "You look tired," she said quietly.

He sighed. "Yeah, well, I've had a busy couple of days."

"When did you sleep last?" she asked.

He scrubbed a hand over the back of his head. "I'm honestly not sure. Sleeping's overrated anyway," he said with an absent, tired smile. "I'll get around to it eventually."

"Why don't you get around to it now?" she suggested. "With the VP thing you're going to need to be at your best."

He took her hand. "The problem is to get some shut eye I need to leave here and right now, being here with you is more important to me than sleeping right now."

"Why can't you have both?" she asked.

He frowned a little. "What do you mean?"

"Stay with me," she said quietly. "There's room in this bed for both of us."

"Yeah? You think?" 

"I do."

He smiled at her. "I must be tired if I didn't think of that first." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Eventually, we're going to have that talk though," he promised.

"I know," she said. "But don't you think it might go better if I'm not recovering from a concussion and you're not ready to fall down from exhaustion?"

"I guess you have a point there," he agreed. "God knows I'm tired."

Because her i.v. was on that side, he moved to the other side and she shifted over to make room for him. Standing by the bed, he pulled off his shoes. 

"Do you want me to put the flowers in something?"

She smelled them again. "No, they're fine right here."

Happy that the flowers had been such a hit, he grinned. "Ah-kay."

Staying on top of the covers, he carefully slid into bed next to her. Tentatively, he rested his head by her shoulder and slid an arm over her waist. 

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Is this comfortable?"

"It's perfect," she murmured. 

Reaching over, she pressed the button to switch off the light above her bed, but left the TV on. Then she lowered the head of the bed so they'd both be more comfortable.

With the roses clutched on one side and Josh snuggled against the other, she finally let her eyes close and her mind calm. And within a few minutes, they were both sound asleep.

**********  
Chapter 17

Donna and Sam sat in two folding lounge chairs on the roof of Josh's building waiting for the fireworks to begin on the warm July night. They could have gone to the White House, but Donna wasn't really up for crowds and questions about her accident. She'd been out of the hospital for two days, and although she'd been plagued by some mild headaches, she was almost feeling like her old self.

Josh had actually been the one to suggest that the three of them watch from the roof of his building when he pointed out it was high enough that it had a decent view of the sky over the Mall, where the display would be going off. He’d had to bribe his super to let them come up there, but it was worth it to avoid the crowds. And since she'd been staying with Josh since she'd gotten out of the hospital, the location had also been very convenient. 

"Where did you get these chairs? Sam asked taking a drink of his beer. "I didn't think Josh owned such a thing."

“He didn't, I bought them,” she said stretching her legs. “Of course, I had to sneak out of the apartment to do it.”

“Why?”

“He made me promise I wouldn’t leave the apartment alone.”

“Why, are you grounded or something?” Sam teased. 

“No, he’s still worried about me getting dizzy or whatever and he wants me to stay here,” she explained. “But I was getting a little stir crazy.”

“Didn’t he wonder where the chairs came from?”

Her heart gave a funny little lurch as she stared out over some trees in the distance. “No, he hasn’t seen them. I kept them hidden, although I guess I really didn’t need to. He hasn’t been home much since I’ve been here.”

Well, that sounded ominous, Sam thought. “Why hasn’t he been home much?” 

“The VP thing. He thought he had Berryhill in the bag and then Haffley pulled the rug out from under him and he had to start over with the list the Republican leadership put up.” Donna couldn’t help but sigh. “So basically he’s been living at the office and I’ve been here, you know, watching TV and buying outdoor lounge furniture.” 

She felt Sam’s eyes on her as she took a sip of her soda. She would have loved a beer, but with her head injury and some of the pain meds she was taking, the doctor had told her no alcohol for the next week. 

“I guess it’s a little weird for you to not be there with him when he’s working on such a big thing,” Sam ventured.

“It’s very weird,” she said. 

What she didn’t say was that what was even weirder was what had…or had NOT been happening between them back at Josh’s apartment.

Sam didn’t know why he couldn’t help but pick at this. He supposed it was because it had taken the two of them, both of whom he considered close if not his best friends, to get together he didn’t want to see them screw it up before it got off the ground.

“So how are things going with you two?” 

Donna tried not to be annoyed at his continued questions. “They’re fine…” She let that hang in the air for a moment. Then, despite her best efforts, she couldn’t help the next words from coming out of her mouth. “Okay, things are…nowhere with us,” she admitted.

She could just make out Sam’s frown in the growing darkness. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. He’s been at the White House most of the time with the VP thing. I can’t be there because the doctor wants me to take it easy this week and so Josh won’t let me set foot inside the building. When he does come home, it’s usually so late, either I’m already asleep...in the GUEST room...” she said unhappily. “...or he’s so exhausted he sits down on the couch and is asleep in a few minutes.”

Sam was surprised to hear that they’d been sleeping in separate rooms, but decided not to open that can of worms, so he choose his words carefully. “You know there are going to be times when work will have to take priority over the personal for you two. The VP thing is a huge deal for the President.”

“I know that better than anybody, Sam,” she said. “I’m not mad at him for being at the White House all the time…I just…” She was mortified to feel tears spring to her eyes. “I don’t know what the hell we’re doing.”

“Haven’t you guys talked at all?” he said gently.

“No, not really. It’s been mostly, hi, how are you, are you taking your medicine and how’s your headache?” she said miserably. “I was hoping we might get to talk tonight, but...well, as you know he had to work late again.” 

“You know he’d be here if he could, Donna,” Sam tried. 

“I know,” she said. “I’m just...” she started and then broke off.

“What?” Sam prodded.

“Just forget it,” she dismissed.

“No, tell me what you were going to say.” 

“It’s just that…I really can understand him working a lot of hours but…” she sighed again. “…part of me worries that he’s using work to avoid me.” 

“Donna,” Sam chided. “You know that’s not true.”

“I don’t know what I think anymore, Sam,” she said, blinking back tears again. Ever since she'd woken up in the hospital she'd been more emotional than usual. 

Sam opened his mouth to say something more but didn’t have a chance before the roof access door opened and Josh stepped out. Apparently he’d made a stop at the apartment on his way up, because he’d changed out of the suit he’d been wearing and was now in cargo shorts and an old Harvard t-shirt.

“Hey, stranger,” Sam greeted him. “I thought you had to work tonight.”

Josh shrugged. “I got done early and my choices were a barbecue dinner at the White House with the President and a bunch of stuffed shirts or spending the evening away with both of you.” He stared at Donna for a moment. “It was no contest.”

Hope flared in Donna’s chest. The look he’d given her had warmed her down to her toes. “Well, I don’t know, we’ve got this exclusive little club going here. What do you think, Sam, can we let him join in the festivities?”

“I guess we could make an exception,” Sam said pleasantly. “After all, it looks like he brought pizza.”

“Oh, and not just any pizza,” Josh said holding up the large box he was carrying. “Deep dish with everything.”

Donna and Sam exchanged looks. “You can stay,” Sam said.

“Hey, where’d the chairs come from?” he said handing the pizza box to Sam.

“The chair fairy brought them,” Donna said.

“You’ve been thumbing your nose at the Rules again, haven’t you?” Josh said, giving her a stern look.

“I like to live dangerously,” she deadpanned. 

“Well, since you only got two of them, your punishment will be to share yours with me, so get up.”

“And just where am I going to sit?”

“You ask too many questions,” he bantered back. “Now, up…”

Hope again flared. So far, their conversation was one of the liveliest they’d had she’d gotten out of the hospital. 

She sighed dramatically as she pushed out of the chair. “Fine, throw an injured woman out of her chair." 

When she’d vacated the lounge chair, Josh dropped down onto it. Then, dropping a foot down on each side of the chair, he patted the spot in front of him and she sank into it. Luckily, she’d gotten the chairs without arms or it never would have worked to have them in the same chair. 

After settling herself between his mostly bare legs, she leaned back against him. The chair was just wide enough that he could tuck a leg onto the chair on each side of her. She felt surrounded by him and it definitely wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. Automatically, she reached into the small cooler beside the chair and pulled a bottle of beer for him.

“Thanks,” he said popping off the top and taking a long swig. “Ah...a good woman, a good friend, cold beer, and pizza...life is good.”

Sam passed the pizza box over to them and they all chowed down. 

“So do you have to be in early tomorrow morning?” Donna asked as she wiped her hands on the napkins he’d brought.

“Nope. I’m taking tomorrow and the weekend off.”

“Excuse me?” Donna said. “Did you just say you’re taking tomorrow and the weekend off?”

“I believe I did say that, yes,” Josh said with a grin. 

Donna couldn’t help being surprised and ridiculously happy. “But what about the VP selection?” She frowned when she could all but feel the tension spring into his body when she asked the question.

“It’s done,” he said tightly. “The President made his decision.”

“So is it going to be Berryhill after all?” Sam asked.

Josh grabbed up another piece of pizza. “No, it’s going to be...Bob...Russell,” he said, punctuating each word like it was a nail in his personal coffin.

“Bob Russell?” Sam said, trying to place him. “Who the hell is Bob Russell?”

“Oh, God, not the Bingo Bob guy?” Donna said. One of the brief conversations she had with him in the last week was over the list of potential vice presidential nominees that the Republicans had put up.

“That's the one.”

“Bingo Bob?” Sam said. “Who is this guy?”

“Congressman from western Colorado," Josh supplied.

“Why did the President pick him?” Sam wondered.

“Because the new Republican Speaker is an arrogant little fascist and the Democratic leadership is a collection of spineless jelly fish." Josh sighed. "At least Russell's a Democrat. The way things were going, I think Haffley was getting ready to nominate himself for the job."

"Tough break, Josh," Sam said. "Berryhill would have been a great choice."

"Tell me about it," Josh groused.

The first of the fireworks started then and any more conversation ceased. Slowly, Donna could feel Josh's body begin to relax as they watched the night sky. The fireworks were beautiful and Josh had been right about the view.

Then, the oddest thing happened...

He started to touch her...nothing overtly provocative, just...intimate and a little flirty. It wasn't that he hadn't touched her in any way since she'd been in the hospital, but this was different.

First, it was his hands on her shoulders when he gave her a gentle massage.

Then it was his arms around her waist pulling her in closer to him.

And finally it was his lips brushing lightly over her neck.

Donna felt a little bewildered by it all. It was like he was a different person from the one she'd been staying with for the last couple of days. While it wasn't unwelcome, in fact it was the opposite of unwelcome, it kept her a little off balance. She hoped his actions would lead to more, but given the last few days, she knew that wasn't a given.

Once the fireworks were over, Josh wouldn't let her lift a finger so he and Sam carried everything back down to the apartment. 

"Well, my flight is really early in the morning, so I better head back to my hotel," Sam said.

Josh pulled him into a hug. "Have a safe trip, man. Don't be a stranger."

Sam clapped him on the back. "You do know that they've got planes that fly to California now too, right?"

Josh pulled back with a grin. "I wouldn't do well out there, too much sunshine and no seasons. It's not natural."

"We have seasons!" Sam insisted. "They're...subtle, but we have them. We have to rake leaves and everything."

"Sam, when have you ever raked leaves?" Josh asked him. "Palm trees don't have leaves."

"Okay, so I saw the gardener do it once."

"That's what I thought," Josh teased.

"Don't let him give you a hard time, Sam," Donna said gathering him into a hug. "Thanks for everything; it was great to see you."

Knowing she was still a bit battered and bruised from her encounter with the boxes, Sam hugged her carefully. "Take care of yourself, Donna." Then he lowered his voice to a whisper only she could hear. "Talk to him."

"I will," she said in a normal voice since it was an answer to both his comments. “Have a safe trip.”

“I plan to,” he said walking the door where he paused and gave them a little wave. “Bye.” 

With that he walked out, Josh closed the door behind him and they were alone.

Donna was a little worried about things becoming awkward if she just stood there waiting for Josh to say something so she walked over to the couch, switched on the TV to the late news and sat down. As she did, she felt Josh’s eyes on her like a physical touch and it made her heart beat a little faster. 

Eventually, Josh came around and sat down at the other end of the couch. For the next few minutes, they both watched the news in a lingering, somewhat pregnant silence.

Josh was the first one breach it. "So how are you feeling?" 

"Fine, the headache's almost gone."

"Oh, that's...good," he said a little awkwardly.

As the silence stretched between them again, Donna began to worry. What if the touchy feely with Josh earlier had been some kind of aberration? What if it had come from the fact that they'd just been in close proximity to each other. He certainly was sitting as far away from her as he could on the couch right now. With things being...theoretically... different between them, maybe he was feeling pressured by having her stay in his apartment.

Maybe she was expecting too much and what they needed was some space to give things between them a chance to develop at a slower pace. To collect her thoughts before she said anything, she pushed off the couch and headed to the kitchen with the idea of getting some water. She didn't know if she was happy or not when he Josh followed her.

Donna pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and looked at him for a long moment. Given their excellent sense of timing, they both spoke at the same time.

"Maybe I should go home," Donna said.

"I think we should have that talk," Josh said.

"What?" they both said in surprise as they stood across the kitchen from each other.

"You think you should go home?" Josh squeaked.

"You want to talk about us?" she said.

He frowned. "Well, yeah, don’t you?"

"No, I do...I just didn't think you did."

“I told you in the hospital I did.”

Now feeling stupid and like she’d probably been worrying for nothing, Donna stared at him. “I know you did, but...well, we haven’t done much talking." 

She could see he was about to start yelling and she threw up her hand before he could.

“I know you’ve had a lot going on with finding a vice president and had to spend a lot of time at the office with good reason, that’s I’m not talking about that. I understand about that.”

That seemed to take some of the wind out of his sails. “Well, then what are you talking about?” he asked. 

Donna let out a breath and hoped she didn’t screw this up. “I...it’s just that...even when you were here and we were both awake, you didn’t seem to want too talk much...or do much of anything else for that matter. It seemed more like were roommates or something.”

He frowned. “I thought you needed some time to recuperate. The doctor said you needed your rest and I was all wound up with the VP thing and I didn’t want to dump that crap on you when you’re supposed to be concentrating on getting better.”

“But I like sharing that kind of thing with you, I always have," she said. 

"Well, you did the same thing to me when I got shot," he pointed out. "You had this place closed up tighter than Fort Knox."

"I only did it with work because it got you so wound up," she countered. "I still talked to you about other things and if I thought Toby or Sam or CJ would have only talked to you about String Theory or the price of eggs I would have let them come and go as much as they wanted."

He had to concede that she had a small point. "For the record, it wasn't that I haven't been talking to you." He let out a sigh. "But I guess I just kind of got tunnel vision with this VP thing and in the process of dealing with it and worrying about you, I can see how it might have seemed that way." 

Looking down, Donna fiddled with the cap of her water bottle. “I was starting to think maybe you regretted the things you said to me in the hospital.”

Although she continued to stare down at her hands, she heard him take a couple of steps toward her. “Why would...how could you think that?” he asked softly.

Looking up at him, Donna felt her face get hot. "I thought maybe it was just the moment..." She trailed off when Josh shook his head to dismiss the idea. "Or I thought the whole thing had been worry run amuck instead of..."

Josh cocked his head to the side. "You think I don't know the difference between worrying about you and loving you?" 

“You never said you loved me,” she blurted.

“What? Yes I did, I..." 

The wheels started turning in his head. Hadn't he? 

He let out a little laugh of disbelief. “You know, you're right I didn't.” He cupped her face in his hand. “I guess part of me thought you already knew what I'd finally managed to figured out."

"What's that?" she said, hardly breathing while her heart hammered in her chest. 

"That this thing between us, this dance, this banter we perfected, is a symptom of a greater truth," his fingers grazed her cheek. "I love you very much." 

His words sent a warmth through her like nothing she'd ever known before. It was like suddenly getting everything she'd ever wanted, but thought she would never have.

"You didn't even try and kiss me again," she said, with a little pout.

“So, you’re a fan of the kissing?” he smirked.

"Of course I’m fan of the kissing!" she told him, all but stamping her foot. "Have you already forgotten the one I planted on you in the hospital?"

Now he was grinning. "There's no way I could forget that," he said, then sobered a bit. "I didn't try and kiss you again because I didn't want to take advantage of your 'weakened condition' and I thought maybe you'd feel like I was rushing you when we hadn't been able to talk yet." He leaned a hip on the counter. "Plus, I was a little afraid if I started with the kissing, I wouldn’t be able to stop it from leading to more."

She stared at him. "Who said anything about needing to stop it from leading to more?" she said softly. "That's what's been killing me the last two days. I wanted the talking and kissing and the...more but it seemed so easy for you to just turn it off that..."

"Easy?!" he said incredulously, taking a step back. "You think that any of this was easy for me? You think being at work and not being here with you was easy?" He paced away from her. "You think finding you buried under those boxes was easy? You think seeing you bloody and unconscious was easy? You think sitting by your bedside waiting for you to wake up was easy?" 

He continued to pace the small kitchen as Donna let him rant. He'd definitely earned the right. She'd only been looking at things from her point of view and hadn't appreciated just how hard this had all been for him.

"You think that me sleeping in one room, knowing that you're sleeping in the next room and forcing myself to not to go in there and...and do what I wanted...what I've wanted to do since practically the day I met you...was...EASY?"

By the time the words were out of his mouth, they were both breathing hard and fast as they faced each other across the kitchen.

"What did you want to do?" Donna asked breathlessly.

**********  
Chapter 18

The tenuous control Josh had kept on his need for her, snapped. He was across the kitchen in a heartbeat and Donna pressed up against the wall before she could blink.

His hands gripped her waist as his mouth ravaged hers, leaving no doubt as to what he wanted. Donna's knees went weak with emotion and pure lust and her head began to swim in a way that had nothing to do with her injury and she had to grip his shoulders to steady herself.

Then he pulled back with a jerk. "That's what I want..." he said, a little out of breath. 

"Thank God," she said with a relieved laugh, rubbing a hand over the back of her head. "It's good to know we're thinking the same thing." 

Still breathing fast, he frowned at her. "Why are you rubbing your head?"

Unconcerned, Donna continued to smile as she dropped her hand. "I just bumped it against the wall. The spot on the back of my head is still a little tender." 

Looking a little panicked, he took a step back. "God, I'm sorry. I didn't think...I just reacted. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Now it was her turn to frown at him. He was looking at her like she was suddenly made of glass. Rather than trying to talk him out of it, she took the direct approach. Grabbing the front of his shirt, she flipped their positions so now he was the one pressed against the wall. 

"It's okay, Josh, I won't break," she said with her face a hairsbreadth away from his. "But if it makes you feel any better, this time I'll be on top." She smirked at him. "I like being on top." 

Her hands released his shirt and moved to his face, which she held between her hands as she captured his mouth with hers. His mouth opened for her and she slid her tongue inside to taste and explore all he had to give. She thrilled at the feeling of his arms going around her waist to pull her tightly against him. 

And from what she was feeling pressed against her hip, he was enjoying the moment just as much as she was.

Then they were moving, stumbling through the kitchen, although she had no idea which one of them had actually started their momentum. They were a mass of groping hands, hungry mouths, and partially tangled legs as they moved through the apartment. Actually, it was a wonder that they didn't trip each other and fall on their way to the bedroom. Their bodies finally came to a stop when they bumped up against his bed.

Wait," he broke off the kiss and found that they were both out of breath. "I don't think that I have any condoms."

"It's covered, Josh."

He nodded. It never occurred to him to question her statement. His fingers traced her cheek. "You sure you feel up to this?" he asked quietly. "It's not too soon?"

"Yes, Josh, it's too soon," she said with a smirk. "It's only been six years."

"Actually it's been five years, eight months, twelve days and sixteen hours," he rattled off. "But I meant since you were..."

She laid a finger over his mouth to stop him. "I know, what you meant..." she said softly. "I'm okay, Josh."

"I just don't want to do anything to hurt you...again."

She looked at him for a moment. "Do you remember when I said there were going to be times that I was going to be bossy?"

He frowned a little in confusion. "Ah...yeah...?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

Josh broke into a little grin. He liked this side of her. "Ah-kay."

Leaning in, he captured her mouth again as his hands drifted down to slide under the hem of her t-shirt. Her skin was so soft and he reveled in being able to touch her at his leisure. Silently, he broke the kiss long enough to lift her t-shirt all the way up and tug it off.

The feeling of the air on her skin and Josh's touch had her body tingling with heat and had a fire growing low in her belly. It was like everything was finally coming together for them. Following his lead, her hands moved under his t-shirt to feel the warmth of his skin under her hands. They continued to kiss as they slowly undressed each other.

Of course, Donna's efforts all but ceased when she lost a great deal of her motor control as his clever fingers found the front clasp on her bra and had her breasts spilling out into his hands.

"Oh, Josh," she breathed as he ran his thumbs over the tips of her breasts bringing them firmly to attention. "That feels amazing."

With no light in the room but what was coming through the door from the living room, he couldn't see her very well and he wanted to see her every expression, every line of her body. Reaching over, he started to switch on the lamp by the bed.

She laid her hand on his arm. "No, leave it off."

He blinked. "Why?"

Donna hesitated and Josh could see her fidget a little. "I...I just...can't we just leave the light off?"

"Why?" he repeated quietly. He wasn't angry, just baffled.

She let out a little sigh. "My body isn't exactly perfect right now, Josh," she pointed out. "I'm covered in bruises and my forehead has a bandage on it roughly the side of the Titanic."

"Do you think I care about that?" he asked softly.

"No, I guess not," she said a little weakly.

"You know, my chest looks like a road map of central Ohio...do you care about that?" he countered.

She shook her head. "No, of course not." 

"Then what are we talking about?"

She let out a nervous little laugh. "I don't know. I just...I guess I feel a little self-conscious," she admitted.

"Well, you have nothing to be self-conscious about," he said as he switched on the lamp and then brushed the back of his hand over her cheek. "I could never see you as anything but beautiful." 

Donna's need for him was too great to let her own self-consciousness stop things now. "Put your hands on me, Josh."

He did as she asked and covered her breasts with his hands. Not giving her time to think about the light, Josh captured her mouth again and continued to tease her breasts with his curious and clever fingers. From the little moans she was making, he was doing a great job of distracting her.

Although neither of them had much if any memory of actually getting the rest of their clothes off, by the time they tumbled to the bed they were both naked and hungry for each other. Legs and arms tangled, they continued kissing, enjoying the simple joy of having nothing between them and of finally not having to hold anything back. 

Dipping his head, Josh trailed his mouth along her jaw and down her neck. Then he replaced his hand with his mouth as he ran his tongue over the tip of her breast and had her arching against him with a moan of pleasure. 

Her moan became a whimper when his hand slid low over her belly and down between her legs. Testing her readiness for him and arousing her further, he stroked her. His own arousal became nearly unbearable when he found wet and all but throbbing with need.

"Please, Josh," she begged mindlessly.

Continuing to stroke her, he nipped lightly at her neck. "Tell me what you want."

"I want you...I NEED you inside me," she ground out.

"Thank God," he murmured against her skin.

Shifting, he settled over her and had his cock pressing at her warm, wet entrance. Their eyes locked as he slid inside her and their connection was complete. With that he started to thrust inside her. She was so aroused, that was all it took to push her over the first peak and have her writhing under him, she moaned out his name with a strangled gasp.

As the orgasm rolled through her and her internal muscles gripped him, Josh had to grit his teeth to keep from following right after her. Even holding onto what small amount of control he had left, he didn't know how long he was going to last. Being inside her was incredible.

"God, you feel good, Donna," he murmured.

Her body still humming, she grinned up at him. "Glad I can...return the...favor," she panted out.

Remembering her bruises and the still healing spot on her the back of her head, it occurred to him that pressing her into the mattress might not be the best idea. There was also the matter that he wanted to see her...watch her as they did this. So, carefully wrapping his arms around her, he rolled them over. 

"You said you liked to be on top," he gave her a smirk.

"You just want me to do all the work. But that's okay..." With a wicked grin she flexed her internal muscles around him, making him gasp. "...I'm feeling very...energetic at the moment." 

Sitting up, she settled herself more completely down on him and then began to flex her hips, rocking over him rhythmically.

"You do that...really...well," he moaned.

"You'll find I'm full of...hidden talents."

As she continued to move, Josh began to thrust up to meet her and his hands traveled over her torso, brushing and trying to soothe every bruise she still carried from her accident. The only problem with this position was that her mouth was too far away, and he couldn't kiss her. He made up for it by touching her and teasing her breasts until the tips of them were hopelessly hard and aroused. Her motions were beginning to speed up and he knew she was nearing a second climax. Just watching her had him right there with her.

"Josh..." she choked out. "I can't...I'm so close..."

"Me too," he told her. "Let it go, Donna, come for me."

"Come...with me," she panted.

Leaning forward, she planted a hand on each side of him and started to thrust over him in earnest. Josh's hand slid between them to touch her. It was like a striking a match and the orgasm flashed through her as she came with a cry. Pulling her mouth down to his, Josh thrust up into her twice more and came right after her.

Exhausted, Donna collapsed forward on his chest. He slid his arms around her and after they both had a chance to recover, they shifted onto their sides to face each other. Gently, he brushed the hair away from her face. 

"Never doubt that I love you, Donna," he said tenderly.

She smiled softly and ran I hand over his arm. "I love you too, Josh."

He pulled her in close and she nuzzled her face against his neck. For the longest time they only laid there quietly enjoying the feel of being close to each other with no barriers. Donna couldn't remember being so happy...so content. There would be questions they needed to talk more about...especially those related to their working relationship, but for now she knew what she needed to know and that was all that mattered.

**********  
Josh woke to find himself alone. For half a second he wondered if he'd imagined or dreamed what had happened between him and Donna a few hours earlier, but he could still smell the soft, lingering scent of her perfume and see the faint imprint of her on the pillow and the sheets so he new it had been very real.

Getting out of bed, he pulled on his boxers and went in search of her. He didn't have to look far. Standing in the doorway, he watched her for a moment. 

All he could think was that she was so beautiful.

He'd spent so much time denying himself the simple joy of thinking that...of seeing that and how that he had the chance, he just let it wash over him. 

Wearing the dress shirt he'd discarded when he'd got home that night, she was sitting in a chair by the window, scribbling something on a legal pad. 

Sensing his presence, she looked up from whatever she was writing. "Hey," she said with a little smile.

"Hey." He walked over to her and brushed some hair off her shoulder. "You okay?

She nodded. "Yeah."

"What are you doing?"

Blushing a little, Donna looked a little embarrassed and a little shy. "I don't want to tell you; you'll just laugh at me."

"No, I won't. Okay, maybe I will, because sometimes you can be pretty funny," he said with a grin as he sat down near her on the arm of the sofa. "But seriously, what are you doing?"

Knowing he would just pester her until she cracked, she sighed. "When I was...out, I had a...dream...hallucination, whatever."

Intrigued, he cocked his head. "Really? What as it about?"

"Well, that's just it, I'm having a little trouble remembering it," she explained. "It comes back to me mostly in bits and pieces. I've been trying to write parts of it down when I remember it. From what I've pieced together so far it had a Wizard of Oz theme...well, kind of anyway."

Now he was intrigued. "Can I read it?"

She held the pad to her chest. "Again, I go back to the laughing at me part."

"How about if I try not to?" he said with a little smirk that didn't exactly inspire confidence in his statement.

"It's kind of sketchy," she told him. "It's not like reading a story from beginning to end."

"That's okay, I'd still like to read it," he persisted.

She regarded him for a moment. "You're just going to bug me about it until I let you, aren't you?"

Then he grinned. "Probably."

She sighed and held out the pad. "All right."

Grinning, he rubbed his hands together expectantly. Taking the pad from her, he tugged her out of the chair, then sat down in her place.

"I'm sure I'll need you to translate your 'distinctive' handwriting," he said as he pulled her back down into his lap. 

She rolled her eyes but enjoyed the feeling of sitting in his lap. "You just want me close by for the laughing." 

"Well, that too," he smirked as he started to read her notes.

Donna waited patiently as he read the first page. 

"A ruby goldfish paddle?" he asked.

"Pendant...a ruby goldfish pendant," she explained. "It was gold and covered in little gemstones with a ruby for an eye." 

He nodded. "Ah-kay," he said as he went back to reading.

Often asking questions, some of which helped jog new details loose from Donna's brain, Josh continued to read. Chuckling a number of times and looking very serious at others, he was completely engrossed the whole time. He almost seemed disappointed when he reached the end of her notes.

"Very entertaining. It sounds like you had quite the adventure," Josh said. "You should fill in the blanks and write it out for everyone at work, they'd probably love it...especially the president. He'd love the idea of being the Wizard. Oh, but you should probably keep the part about ogling my naked clone just between us."

"Oh, gee and I so wanted to spread that part around the most...ESPECIALLY to the president," she told him. "I was planning on keeping the whole thing between us or someone is going to want to have me committed."

"Nah, I wouldn't let them." He tossed the pad over onto the end table. "I need you too much, I'd protect you."

"I know you would." Shifting her position so she was straddling him in the chair, her expression was serious as she ran a hand over his jaw. "You've always been my hero." 

Josh ran his hands over the back of her thighs and up over her firm behind and discovered she wasn't wearing anything under his shirt. That information alone had his body going hard and when she started to unbutton her shirt, he had a feeling things were about to get very interesting in this old recliner of his.

He cupped her cheek in hand. "And you, Donnatella, take my breath away."

**********  
Donna hummed as she walked through the bullpen as she carried lunch for her and Josh back from the Mess. It had been two months since her accident and she and Josh had been together the whole time. In fact a week after their first night together, he'd asked her to move in with him permanently and what they felt for each other only seemed to grow with each passing day. 

Because of the change in their personal relationship, Leo had moved her to Communications and she now answered to Toby while Ginger now worked with Josh. While it had taken some adjustment on everyone's part, they'd eventually gotten used to it. Ginger had even stopped threatening to quit on a daily basis.

Knocking on his closed door, she heard him call out. "Come in!"

Balancing the food in one hand, she pushed open his door and found him alone in his office. "Hey, sailor, how about some lunch?"

"Hey, gorgeous." Smiling, he got up from his desk and after taking the food from her and putting it on his desk, kissed her soundly. "Your timing is perfect. I'm starving."

She started to set out the food. "You're in luck, then because I made sure they burned your hamburger and everything."

Pulling her against him, he kissed her again. "I didn't say I was hungry for food."

She couldn't help but grin. "You're in a good mood."

He kept grinning at her and all but bouncing on the balls of his feet. "You have no idea."

She cocked a brow at him. "What are you up to, Josh?"

"I got you something," he said, looking like he was ready to bust. "Sit down."

"Oh-kay," she said, dropping into one of his visitor's chairs. "What's the occasion?"

"Can't I just give you something?"

She grinned. "I was just wondering. You know I'm not one to turn down presents."

"Good, here," he said and pulling a small flat box out of his pocket, he handed it to her. "I wanted to give it to you sooner but I had to have it made."

She stared down at the simple black velvet box. What could he have gotten her? It was too big to be a ring box, not that she had been expecting a ring or a ring box at this point in their relationship. She just couldn't figure out what it might be.

Perching a hip on the edge of his desk, he watched her open it and saw first the confused and then delighted look on her face.

"I can't believe you did this," she said. "Thank you, Josh, I love it."

"Well, I thought it would be a little reminder of your...adventure."

Pulling it out of the box, she held it up to the light. There, sparkling in the sun, was her very own ruby goldfish pendant hanging on a simple gold chain. 

Smiling at him a little tearfully as she fastened around her neck, she stood and gathered him in a hug that had her heart swelling. "It will remind me of the adventure, but more importantly, it will remind me that the trip led me to you. It's really true what they say. Sometimes to find your heart's desire you don't need to look any farther than your own..."

"Boss' office?" he teased.

Donna pulled back, the tender look in her eyes at odds with her scowl. "Oh, Josh. And to think, you were doing so well until then." She pressed her forehead against his. "You'd better be careful - before somebody drops a pile of boxes on YOU."

The End...


End file.
